Funeral for a Brother
by closetfan
Summary: The title says it all COMPLETE
1. A church of children

Author's Note: I do not own Thunderbird and do not profit from them. They are owned by Carlton, created by Gerry Anderson. 

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Jeff sat grim faced, waiting for his 4 sons to enter the lounge. When Gordon, the last to arrive, entered and sat down, Jeff started, "We have a rough one, boys. There is a collapsed church with children caught in the basement."

Scott interfered, "That doesn't sound that difficult father. We have had many rescues from basements of fallen buildings."

Jeff looked at Scott, worry written all over his face. "This particular church is in Cumaguay." 

Virgil asked, "Isn't that the civil war torn country?"

"Yes" answered Jeff. "This is what is going to make the rescue so difficult. The Rebels have pretty much destroyed any rescue equipment that the town has. The government army will supply a troop to cover our backs while on the rescue, but they said they can't afford to give any equipment just to rescue a bunch of villagers."

John piped up, "Wonderful government, huh?"

Jeff continued, "To decrease the amount of damage to the Thunderbirds, and to keep separation of you boys to a minimum, I have decided to leave TB1 home. Scott, Mobile Control stays here too. If you need to escape out of the area fast, it would take too long to pack up Mobile Control. You can work from inside TB2. Virgil, pod 1 has the grabs, which I think you will need. Bring the Mole just in case. I want all four of you to go. The faster we get the basement open and the children out, the faster you can get out of the war zone." 

"God speed."

Virgil slowly circled the small town of San Pablo de los Angeles. He wasn't used to having to find a place to land his big bird, Scott usually found a good spot for him before he got to the scene. However he was lucky to find a field at the edge of town large enough for TB2 to land. All 4 brothers stood in the cockpit looking out the window surveying the area. They could see the destroyed church from where they had landed. The town looked quiet enough. Too quiet in fact. They didn't see anyone around. Then they saw an army jeep drive up to TB2. Scott said, "Hey guys, no use all of us getting shot at if these soldiers aren't friendly. I will go down and talk to them." Virgil was about to mouth his objections, but changed his mind. 

After exiting, Scott walked towards the jeep with 4 soldiers sitting in it. He extended his hand, "Buenos tardes" he said. 

"And a good afternoon to you too, senor. You are International Rescue, yes?" Asked one of the soldiers, who seemed to have a higher rank than the others. 

He took extended his hand. "Yes, you can call me Scott."

"Se llamo, uh, I am Captain Jaime Rojo. I am here to protect you while you free the trapped people in the church." The army captain said. Scott noted that although he was a bit gruff and rough around the edges, he was a good man. He really did seem to care about the charges he was put there to defend, and he did seem to want the villagers saved. The Captain continued, "We have patrolled the parameter, and have secured the area. You can start whenever you are ready." He then took a moment to look up and scrutinize the big green transport ship. "Marroon! We would win this war in a week with such a ship of our own." That brought a realization to Scott, that not only do that have to be careful from being caught in a crossfire, but they have to be careful of either side wanting to hijack TB2. He turned and went back inside the great ship.

"Virgil, make sure this bird is lock up tighter than Fort Knox." Scott said. "I am sure there are people on both sides of this little war that would love to have her." "No worries, Scott. I was thinking the same thing."

"Right now, let's just go with the grabs for now. I can see from here there is one wall that is leaning precariously. But I don't think we will need the Mole. Actually, on second thought, Gordon, stay with TB2 for now, John and I will laser cut into the basement while Virgil uses the grabs on the one wall. As soon as an extra pair of hands are needed we will call you." 

"Ok, Scott. But don't hesitate to call! I want to help."

Scott answered, "Gordon, if we do go under fire, having someone in TB2 where we have firepower, is the most important thing I can think of right now." Gordon nodded his head in agreement. Scott continued, " And you are our best shot." That brought a smile of pride to Gordon's face.

Virgil chugged over to the failing wall of the church and attached the grabs. He contacted Scott who was waiting at the basement doors, "Ok, Scott, I have the grabs in place. You can start cutting."

Scott started at one side of the door and John started at the other side. They were to meet in the middle. They not only had to cut through the heavy wooden door, but through concrete blocks that had fallen against the doors on the inside, preventing them from opening up. They met at the top of the doors and were able to pull the doors out. Sitting behind the doors was a solid wall of fallen concrete. The two Tracys started laser cutting these as soon as they pulled the wooden doors away. Virgil was monitoring the grabs noting any slight change in pressure.

John had cut through a small piece of concrete before Scott had and was able to peer inside the basement. Huddled near the door were about 10 children and two adults. The hole John had cut was big enough for the kids to squeeze through. Scott and John discussed what they had and decided that Scott would continue cutting while John started to get the kids out one at a time. Scott was cutting far enough away from the hole that there was no danger of hurting the kids. But if he was able to cut through his piece then they could get everyone else out much faster. Two of the army soldiers were there receiving the children as they popped out. 

When 5 of them had safely emerged, mortar fire erupted. Scott jumped out of the stairwell and headed for cover behind a jeep sitting nearby. John hunkered down where he was, covering his head. Virgil jumped from the grabber and headed for a rock formation just behind the church, near a ravine. Gordon, seeing that an attack was happening, used TB2 equipment to locate the source of the attack. He found the location and ran over to the controls for TB2's cannon. Using the coordinates that TB2's locator gave him, he took aim.

A mortar round hit the ground a foot from the front of the jeep that Scott was using as protection. He covered his head as dirt and rock rained down upon him. His ears were ringing from the explosion. 

One of the children still inside started to panic and was trying to come out the hole in the church wall, so John was covering it up with his body. Luckily no rounds came close to the basement doors. 

As soon as the firing started, the army scattered into the thick brush surrounding the village. Small arms fire could be heard throughout the woods. They quickly found the rebel source of the mortar fire and neutralized it before Gordon could fire the cannon.

During the attack Virgil ran as fast as he could for the rock formation. Five strides to go, 3 strides, almost there, then when he was almost at safety the last mortar round blew up right behind him, sending him airborne over the rocks and down tumbling into the ravine. Crashing, rolling, tearing through the brush, he couldn't stop his rapid descent through the thick brush. He could feel the branches grabbing at his clothing during his uncontrolled slide further and further down. On the edge of consciousness, he began to wonder if indeed there was a bottom and if his fall would ever end.


	2. a brother goes missing

Virgil came to rest at the bottom of the deep wooded ravine. He lay parallel to a small stream, his exposed left arm resting in the cold water. He was not moving.

Gordon was just about to fire TB2's cannon when he saw images on the screen moving into the target zone. Then within minutes the shooting and mortar fire stopped. He had guessed that the army sent there to protect them was doing their job, albeit a bit slow. He switched the cannon back to stand-by and hurried out of TB2. He headed straight for the basement doors of the church looking for his brothers. Too bad he didn't think of his watch, he would have gotten an answer faster by contacting his brother's via the com link. But he was too worried about them being hurt to think about it. He found Scott first when he stood up from behind the jeep, brushing the dirt off his clothes. "You ok, Scott?" Gordon asked. "Eh?" Scott returned cupping his ears. "My ears are still ringing from the blast." Gordon got a worried look on his face. "Gordo, I'm kidding, I can hear you fine, I just have a little ringing in my ears. Let's go see how John and the kids are doing." He said as he shook his head sending dust and dirt flying from his hair.

They headed to the steps leading down to the basement doors that Scott and John had previously cut away. John already had two more kids out. They were coming out in a hurry from panic after the mortar attack. John looked to Scott, "I don't think you will have to continue cutting the concrete, these kids are pouring out so fast that by the time you start up your laser cutter, they will all be out." Since the army soldiers that were helping the kids being removed left during the attack, there was no one around to rein them in once they got out. Gordon took it upon himself to lasso them in and give them comfort. As another would pop out of the hole, he rounded them up as well. 

Scott was about to go over and check on Virgil. He looked up and saw that the grabs were still attached to the wall and assumed that Virgil was back at the controls. As he headed towards where he thought Virgil was, the captain came over to Scott. "I'm am sorry senor. The rebels, they sneak into the area after our preliminary search of the grounds. She won't happen again. Most of those rebels died, and we have captured most all of the rest. I think that maybe two have gotten away. One particularly nasty hombre, his name is Jorge Sanches, he usually is responsible for such terrible attacks. I did not see him among the dead or captured. But I suspect he is behind this. Once again Senor Scott, you have my sincerest apologies."

Since he was in the military himself, Scott definitely understood, "Don't worry captain. I know you tried your best to have this area secured." Before Scott could say anything more, John called over. "Scott, we have two injured kids that need help getting out and one of the adults is injured." Before Scott left to go help with the rescue inside, the captain spoke up again, "One more favor Senor, por favour." Scott answered, "sure, go ahead." Captain Rojo waved his arm fanning across the village, as you can see, the village is deserted. These children are orphans, and hid in the church during the last round of attacks. They were heading for an orphanage several kilometers away. Would you please be allowed to take these children and the wounded to the next down in your great machine here?" Scott didn't hesitate for a moment. "Sure thing, it would take but minutes for us to do that. As soon as we get the remaining people out of the basement we'll go." Scott turned to Gordon, "Gordon, put all the kids into TB2, they are hitching a rid to the orphanage in the next town. We have to take the wounded there anyway to the hospital. Make sure they are strapped in and comfy. We will pick up the grabber after we have dropped off the kids."

"FAB, Scott."

As Gordon started to round up the kids into Thunderbird 2, Scott went over to help John retrieve the last of the injured. John being of a slimmer build was able to squeeze through the hole he had made. He was able to get the children out from under the rubble and through the hole. He then stabilized the broken arm on the one adult so that she could crawl through the hole too. As John crawled back out of the hole, he found Scott standing there. "John, Gordon and I are going to take the people from here to the next village where they have a hospital and orphanage. I will leave the pod so that you and Virgil can load up the grabber. We will be gone just a few minutes and come back to pick you two up and head home. Don't get your head shot off while we're gone!"

Scott, sitting in the pilot seat of TB2, called to Gordon in the back room with the children and adults and told him "Ok, Gords, tell the kids they are going for a ride,… here we go." And he hit TB2 thrusters and headed her for the next village. Meanwhile John after watching TB2 depart realized that Virgil probably didn't know that they had finished the rescue. He called into his watch, but received no answer. His watch looked ok, just a bit dusty, but maybe some dust got inside. So he trotted over only to find the abandoned grabber. He scanned the area quickly, and called out, "Virgil, Virgil where are you?" When he received no response, he called Captain Rojo over and asked, "Have you seen the person who was operating this machine? He has a blue uniform like this but his sash is yellow." The captain replied, "I am sorry Senor, but I have not seen anyone like who you describe. I know two left in the great machine with the children but I do not believe either wore a yellow sash. If you find he is missing, I will give you several of my men to help look for him."

Trying not to panic John said, "I will give a quick look around first and if I don't find any signs of him, I will take you up on your offer." Then as an afterthought to himself, "He had better be taking a leak somewhere if he isn't here!" He looked to his watch and hailed Scott. When Scott answered, John knew that his watch was not broken and that there was something on Virgil's end that wasn't right. He sure hoped it was his watch and nothing more. "Scott, Virgil isn't with you per chance, is he?"

Scott did not like the sound of that. "John, why are you asking that? Virgil should be with you."

"Scott, he is not anywhere in the near vicinity, the grabber is abandoned. I was hoping maybe he headed into TB2 to use the head or maybe get some first aid for a wound or something like that." John answered, panic bubbling just below the surface.

"Gordon, is Virgil with you in sickbay?" Scott called over the intercom.

"Uh, no Scott, isn't he supposed to be with John back at the church?" Gordon responded.

"John said he's not around and thought maybe he came into TB2 when we weren't looking. I'm going to send a shipwide call to see if he is here anywhere." Scott turned on the intercom that would reach throughout the massive ship. "Virgil, please contact the bridge immediately." Scott held his breath as he waited for the reply that never came. 

"John, Virgil did not answer the ship wide com, better start searching the area. As soon as I return we will use the thermal imager and look for him. Don't worry, he's gotta be close by."

Virgil let out a low moan and tried to push himself off the ground, but his left arm was not responding. It had gone numb in the cold water. He just let it follow his shoulder as he twisted his body over onto his back. Using his right arm he sat up. He brushed the twigs and thorn branches out of his hair. He looked down at himself and noted that he was pretty badly cut up. He looked up and realized that he fell down from whatever was up there. He saw that he was wearing what was probably once a blue shirt, but it was so badly torn, it just hung ragged on him. He took off what was left. His white undershirt was in slightly better condition so he left that on. He saw, but didn't feel, the severe gash in his left forearm, it was still numb. So he decided to take what was left of the blue shirt and wrap it up. That proved a bit difficult trying to tie a bandage around a numb arm with one hand and a mouth. After a few trying minutes he finished and looked up again at the heavy forestation that he seemed to have fallen into, from out of the sky. At least he felt like he fell from the sky. He ached all over. He slowly turned over onto his hand and knees, his left arm still limp, and crept up into a standing position. His right knee was hurting. He didn't know if it worked or not. Since he didn't know what direction he came from he decided to start walking downstream. He remembered that for some reason, some survival information that he remember, that you should follow water downstream. A few faltering steps told him he should find a stick, a walking stick, to help him. No way was he going to be able to walk unassisted. He stumbled a few yards before finding what looked like a suitable support for him to use. There was a forked end to it, and found he could use it as a crutch. He got started on his trek following the stream. His mind was so fogged up that he didn't even realize that he didn't remember what happened to him. 


	3. the search begins

He sat at his favorite spot high on the hill overlooking the town of San Pablo de los Angeles. Miguel Velez often came here when there was trouble at home. Today was no different. So as he did so many times, he climbed the steep hill up and over the top and to the other side to sit on the large rock that jutted out over Muerte Ravine. There was no place for him to cross over to reach the town, but that wasn't why he was there. He came to watch the everyday life of the townspeople. There was hardly anyone left nowadays, they were all evacuated to Esperanza Nueva. But the army was still there helping to ferry those that were left to the town a few kilometers away. So he came to watch and forget his troubles at home. 

He didn't realize he was in for a special treat today. He heard it first, then he saw a huge green bird float out of the sky and land in the field usually used for growing corn. He was held in rapt attention watching this giant. He was surprised to see uniformed men leave this great machine. At first he thought that the government had a new weapon. But upon more thought, he realized that no army would dress in such bright blue uniforms making for such easy targets. Who or what were they? He wasn't close enough to see their faces, but the more he watched, the more enthralled he became. At one point the great green machine rose up on four legs, leaving its body behind. Then the body opened up revealing another interesting piece of equipment. He had never seen anything like it. He had seen army trucks, and construction machines, but nothing that looked like this at all. He followed one of the blue uniformed soldiers who was driving it. He took his eyes off of that machine when he caught the large green one lowering itself back onto its body. It was fascinating. He saw two of the other blue soldiers headed for the church. He didn't remember the church being damaged the last time he was there. But, with the war going on, nothing is unexpected, except maybe these new blue people. He was frozen to his position watching what was unfolding before his eyes. In a matter of minutes he saw children emerge from the badly damaged church being assisted by the blue men. They must be special, he thought. They come in a great flying machine, bring children out from the ruins of a church, it was the only conclusion he could come to, that they had special magic. 

Suddenly there was mortar fire. Even though he couldn't get to the village from where he sat, the mortars could still reach him. The 13 yr old got up and ran for home. 

Even with a staff, Virgil found it difficult to walk near the stream. He had fallen several times already and was exhausted. But the forest was too thick, making travel through the undergrowth even more difficult than the bank of the stream. He stopped to rest sitting on a moss covered fallen tree trunk next to the water. He had trouble thinking straight, he had no energy left. He didn't remember where he had come from, or why he was in such bad shape. He was torn suddenly out of his thoughts by the sounds of something crashing through the forest. Whatever it was, it was big. The sound stopped, followed by the roar. There was no mistaking that what he heard coming was a bear. He had come face to face with a bear before and he knows not to be around them. So he got up and tried to hurry away. He half ran, half hopped using the crutch for support. He didn't make it far, when he stumbled and fell again. He stayed down for a moment to listen to see if the bear was coming in his direction. He heard nothing. He waited longer and was satisfied that it wasn't pursuing him. He still he needed to put more distance between him and the bear, so he got up and continued to run away. He fell once more. He landed in the stream and this time didn't get up. Even though the water was cold, he had no strength left to get up. His mind fell into the dark inky depths of unconsciousness. 

As time floated by in the real world, there was no time where Virgil was visiting at the moment. There were no minutes or hours just oily darkness. As the water beat against his body, his face slowly slid off a rock and into the cold rushing water. That brought his mind out of the black depths. He raised his head and looked around. He was freezing and he noticed that it was getting dark. Shivering violently, he spotted a rock overhang just yards away and slowly and painfully crawled to it. The floor was littered with forest debris, which has a natural composting heat to it. Under the protection of the overhang, and lying on a relatively warm soft bed, Virgil curled up and fell back into the mind abyss.

Scott was at Esperanza Nueva in minutes. He was starting to get frustrated looking for a place to land the huge ship in the small town surrounded by thick forests. He finally found a small but adequate meadow to set TB2 down in. He called the local authorities letting them know where to pick up the children and injured. He and Gordon were offloading their living cargo and Scott was starting to get anxious waiting for the transport vehicles to arrive. He did not want to just abandon these people without some sort of help. But he needed to get back to San Pablo to look for Virgil. He knows something bad has happened to him. He would have contacted them somehow if he were near. Just as the last adult was taken off of Thunderbird 2, Scott saw the first of several vehicles emerge from the surrounding forest. A constable was in the first car, a beat up old American Buick station wagon. He got out and greeted Scott warmly. Scott did not want to risk being rude in a foreign land and was polite back to the officer. But he needed to convey to the local authority that he needed to go. 

"Thank you Senor for bringing the children here. It is a great comfort to know that they are all safe and sound now." The constable said. Scott answered. "I'm glad we were able to be of assistance for you. I am sorry to be in such a rush, but we still have people in need of help back at the other village. Would you please excuse us?" And without waiting for an answer, Scott turned and trotted back to TB2. Once inside, he settled back into the pilot's chair, sitting there, impatiently waiting for the people to clear the area. He couldn't start his Thunderbird up without the thrusters hurting people. They had come too close when they arrived. Gordon came over, "What's the holdup, Scott?" "It's these darn villagers, they are taking their time moving away from TB2." 

Gordon said, "I'll take care of that" and got onto the loud speaker. "Limpie por favor el área como nosotros preparamos para levantar lejos". Several of the people looked up at the great ship then hurried into their vehicles. They were away from TB2 within a minute. "What did you say, Gordo?" He answered, I simply said, "Please clear the area as we prepare to lift off". 

"Ok, let's go" and Scott hit the thrusters. 

"John from Thunderbird 2, can you read me John?"

"I gotcha TB2, what's your ETA?"

"We are only 2 minutes away. Any luck with Virgil?" Scott asked anxiously.

"No. The soldiers and I turned this town upside down. There is no sign that Virgil went into any of these buildings. Just before you land, do a thermal imaging of the town and surrounding area." John said.

"Already planned. In fact, we're doing it now." Scott answered as he watched a map printout pour out of the imager. He tore it off and handed it to Gordon. "See anything?" Gordon looked at the map while Scott set TB2 back down in the cornfield. 

Back outside, the light was fading, so just before exiting TB2, Scott turned on the powerful halogen lights which lit up just about the whole town. He and Gordon met John just outside TB2 and all three of them studied the map. There were several images in the town but John was able to clarify that they were soldiers. He pointed to several other spots, "These are either too large or small to be human. We can probably forget these." Gordon pointed to several more "These could be human, but they are in the direction that the rebel attack came from. How would Virgil have gotten over there without us seeing him?" Scott answered, "Maybe he was taken captive and was taken there the long way. There is one more spot here." John and Gordon looked closely at it. "The thermal waves indicate that it is not hot enough to be human. I think the best bet is to see what those images on the other side are. Hopefully Captain Rojo will take us there in case they are rebels holding Virgil." Gordon said.

Scott went over to Captain Rojo and explained the situation. Captain Rojo said, "Normally I would not take you out as the sunlight is almost gone. But I know what you did for us by coming here and risking your lives for ours, so I will send an escort out with you. But you listen to them! Let them take the lead. I do not want to have the world knowing that Cumaguay killed International Rescue." Scott asked, "Do you think rebel soldiers could have captured him?" Captain Rojo responded. "I hope not Senor. But you will know soon enough." 

Scott asked, "Why's that?"

"If the rebels captured him to keep him alive, it will be for money. They need money and will ransom him. Otherwise, they do not take prisoners." He said sadly.

"Thanks Captain" Scott said and went back to let the other two know the plan. But he didn't tell them about what the rebels would do if Virgil fell into their hands. "Let's get ourselves armed. By the time we come back outside, the escort should be ready. John, stay here in case Virgil shows up."

"NO WAY" complained John. "Uh, uh, I am not sitting here just waiting. There are plenty of soldiers around to help him if he stumbles his way back into town. If he is ok, he knows enough to stay with TB2 until we return. So, NO WAY am I not coming with you." Scott backed down quickly. He doesn't ever remember such a long diatribe from his quiet younger brother. "Ok, let's go, we are burning daylight." And off they went. 

Two soldiers took the point and two took the flank position. The three Tracy brothers were hemmed in the middle. The soldiers looked at the coordinates on the imager map and knew where to head for the first group of images. As they approached the area, the sergeant in command signaled the group to get down and stay quiet. He then took 2 of the other soldiers and quietly slipped into the brush. There came a burst of screaming and shouting in Spanish, then silence. The sergeant then strolled back out of the brush. "Senor, they were just three village people who ran during the firefight. They were waiting until dark to go back home. They are some of the few that refuse to leave the town. Let's continue to the next location." And he signaled them to continue on. When they came to the next area, the sergeant once again made the Tracys get down, leaving just one soldier with them. The three Cumaguans slipped back into the bush again. This time, the only noise to erupt out of the forest was gunfire. It was furious but brief. The three brothers looked at each other. They were hoping that the sergeant would emerge triumphantly from the woods with their brother in tow. But, only the soldiers came back. "I'm sorry senor, your map was kind enough to show us where a small band of rebels lay sleeping. We did not see any American." Scott was sick when he realized his thermal imager just led to the death of several people. Rebel or not, International Rescue did not want their technology used for such purposes. This was exactly what they tried to avoid with all their secrecy. 

"Senor, we have one more place to check. Por favour, let's go". At the last location, the same beginning scenario of getting down and staying behind occurred. But this time, the place was empty. "Senor, it seems that there were people here, but they are gone. There is no sign that any one of them was your friend. It is very dark now, and not safe for anyone to be out here, we should go back". 

As the small troop of men returned to town, Gordon spoke up, "I think we should go back out. We have strong enough flashlights and small arms, we don't need any escort." The captain overheard him. "That is not a good idea. The rebels have set plenty of booby-traps. Your lights would just attract them to you as it would moths. It would be better to wait until morning." 

Scott turned to his two brothers, "We are set up for night rescue, not night fighting. The captain is right. So do you want to spend the night here or at home?" "John answered, "That's a dumb question. Here, of course." Gordon nodded in agreement "Yeah, if he comes strolling back into town I want to be here." Scott said, "I didn't think you would have it any other way. I'll call dad to …….Oh my God, dad doesn't know yet!"


	4. the search ends

Jeff was sick when he heard the news. At first he took it out on Scott for not telling him sooner, but mellowed quickly. After the conversation with Scott, he just sat motionless. A million scenarios passed through his head of what might have happened to Virgil and what the outcome could be. But one thought dominated; the same thought rescue after rescue, the same thought that danced on his emotion, on his nerves. The thought that this might be the rescue in which not all of his sons return.

With his elbows on the desk, he ran his fingers through his gray hair. He stopped halfway through and just grabbed a fistful. He always thought Virgil had the highest risk of danger. Scott, although at all rescues, usually manned the Mobile Control. Alan and John split 50% time in TB5, a lonely but safe job. Gordon did the underwater rescues, but they averaged only about 20% of the total rescues. Gordon and either Alan or John would sometime double crew with Virgil, but that wasn't always necessary. TB2 is the workhorse of International Rescue and Virgil was her pilot. The only time Virgil missed a rescue was if he was injured. Now he was missing.

Tin-tin walked in and stopped dead in her tracks, "Mr. Tracy, what is the matter?" she asked worriedly. Jeff looked up at her with tear glistened eyes, "Virgil is missing in Cumaguay." She gasped clasping her hands over her mouth. Jeff continued to tell her the whole story. She sat down in the closest chair as Jeff called all the other household members into the lounge for a meeting. A meeting to inform everyone of a missing loved one.

The night was long and the boys slept fitfully if at all. At first light they were up and out. Armed with guns and first aid kits, grabbing energy bars and water, they exited TB2. Captain Rojo was approaching the IR men. "Buenos dias, Senores." He said. "Good day to you too, Captain." Replied Gordon. Captain Rojo said, "I have another patrol ready to go. If you want to get another of your scans, we can get going." 

Scott, John and Gordon discussed that at length during the long night. The argument got heated at times on whether to do the scan or not. If they do, their technology would be used for the very thing International Rescue stood against; their technology being used to take a life. They know Virgil would rather die than to have someone else die from the use of their technology. He would be horrified if he knew that the scans that helped locate him caused the death of others.

Scott answered Captain Rojo, "I'm sorry Captain, we are out of film, we cannot take anymore images." He knew the captain would not know the type of technology they used, and hopefully would buy into the 'no film' excuse. The captain shrugged, "Ok, let's get started then. Where would you like to start?"

Scott answered, "Let's go to the site last night that was newly abandoned."

The party reached the small clearing and searched it thoroughly. There were footprints all over and the boys carefully scrutinized as many as they could. They could not find any of the distinct impressions that the boot of an International Rescue agent would leave. They all felt that Virgil was never there. Scott turned to the captain, "Sir, we do not know where to go from here. You would have the best knowledge where to look next."

"Senor, our best bet is to just go on patrol like we usually do. If we find any rebels, maybe they can tell us if they heard of an American that was captured recently."

They trudged on narrow paths through the thick forest. Periodically they would hear an exchange of gunfire in the distance. The captain seemed unfazed by it. The path eventually dead-ended at a small paved road. They headed south, single file along the side of the road. They were careful to keep an eye on the trenches on either side of the road where a body could easily be missed. Suddenly the captain signaled for everyone to take cover. The soldiers shoved the Tracy brothers into the underbrush and told them to keep quiet. Seconds later 2 old cars, a jeep and a hummer zoomed past. One of the soldiers said, "Humph, I recognize that hummer as one of ours. The rebels must have stolen it."

By mid-afternoon, they had made a circuit of the area and returned back to TB2. John called for a family huddle inside the great ship. "I don't know about you, but I would rather go off on our own searching for Virgil. We could use the imager then and Captain Rojo won't be the wiser. And, if you think about it, if he still goes out on regular patrols, then in essence, we have two search parties looking for him." Gordon was nodding his head in agreement, "And I think we should concentrate on where we knew Virgil to be last, at the side of the church."

Scott looked from John to Gordon back to John again and knew they were dead serious. He also agreed with them. "Ok, I will call dad to give him an update and let him know our plans. Both of you get some water, food and REST. There is instant soup in the kitchenette area. 15 minute break, then we're off again."

After their rest, they exited Thunderbird 2. Scott found Captain Rojo in one of the abandoned but still standing buildings in the town. Before Scott could speak, he said, "My men are tired, Senor, and still have other duties to complete. We cannot go out again today looking for your companero." Scott had been trying to think of a way to convince Rojo to let them go alone, and he was handed his answer on a silver platter. "I understand Captain, all we can ask for is for you to keep an eye open for him on your regular patrols." 

  
"I can at least do that, Senor." The captain replied.

When Scott returned to his brothers, they were at the side of the church where they knew Virgil to be last. There were lots of tracks as John had removed the grabber then walked the area calling for Virgil. There were also children's' and soldiers' footprints scattered about.

"I found one!" cried Gordon. Scott and John rushed over to where Gordon was kneeling down studying the ground. It was the distinctive print of an IR boot. "John, were you ever over here?" Scott asked.

"No."

"It is aimed in that direction." Gordon said pointing towards the ravine. They got up and walked slowly towards the rock formation, studying the ground. Gordon pointed to another saying, "It looks like he was heading towards those rocks over there during the attack. Looking at the distance between tracks, he was running." The tracks ended at a huge mortar hole just a few feet away from the rocks. The three brothers all looked over the rocks and down into the ravine. John said worriedly, "Do you think he is down there?" Gordon answered, "Could be, look, some of the vegetation is broken."

"C'mon" Scott said and he leapt over the rocks and started sliding down the almost vertical incline. He grabbed a sapling to stop his descent. He waited for Gordon and John and was rewarded when they crashed towards him. Scott reached for Gordon as he sat into his slide. He snared the sapling. John was not far behind crashing into Gordon, also ending in a sit. Gordon started to say, "If Virgil fell down here……." But he couldn't finish the thought. John pointed further down, "Look!" Scott's and Gordon's gaze followed in the direction John was pointing and saw a bright yellow flash of color hidden in the dark green foliage. They all quickly climbed down to find a small piece of yellow sash. John picked it off the branch, the IR emblem was on it. Gordon went further down and found another piece of Virgil's sash. "OK" Scott said, at least we know he fell down here." And they continued their descent, dangerously fast. As they continued down, they found other pieces of his sash, and then some of his shirt or pants. They couldn't tell, as it was the same material. Unfortunately they also found his watch. Their anxiety increased as the time it took to reach the bottom increased. The ravine seemed bottomless.

They finally reached the bottom and felt mixed emotions of both relief at not finding his body and fear from just not finding him at all. "Which direction did he go in?" asked John. "This way" said Gordon, "he seems to be following the creek, downstream. He probably took one look up and decided to find another way back. He may have been too hurt to do that climb." They began following the stream, watching for his footprints. Gordon asked, "What's this strange impression I keep seeing beside his footprints?" Scott knelt down and studied it for a moment. "I think it is a crutch. Some sort of stick he is using for support." They tried to hurry along, fearing they would find a body at any minute, but their going through the boulders and river stones slowed them almost as much as it did Virgil. They followed the trail to a rock overhang. Gordon suddenly pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket, the original imager scan. He studied it, then looked up. This image here, the one we said didn't have enough body heat to be human?…well, it is this location right here. Scott cussed under his breath. There were multiple footprints in the soft earth under the rock ledge. They didn't have enough light to tell if the tracks were made by one or more than one person. But there were prints from Virgil's boot. The trail ended there. "What do you make of this?" John asked. "Do you think the rebels got him?" Scott just shook his head, "I don't know, I just don't know." Gordon wanting to push on said, "I think we should look some more try to pick up his trail somewhere. We are too close to stop now."

Scott reluctantly said, "It is getting too dark. We aren't going to find anything down here. In fact if we want to make it out of here in one piece we should head back now before we get lost. We can start back here first thing tomorrow, with overnight gear. I saw a couple of places that look to be easier to climb back up than where we came down." 

It was well past sundown when they finally returned to town. Captain Rojo was waiting for them. He looked disturbed. "Senores, we captured a wounded rebel late this evening. We asked him about your friend. He confessed to capturing an American fitting the description of your compadre. They said they killed him. He died before he could give us anymore information or where we could find his body. I am so sorry, Senores. We found this on him" and he held out his hand. There sat Virgil's gun.


	5. numb

The Tracy brothers just stared at the gun, afraid touching it would cement the fact that Virgil was indeed gone. A few moments passed when Scott reached for the gun, hand shaking. He picked it up and turned it over in his hands several times. It was, indeed, Virgil's. Scott stood stonefaced looking at the gun, but the two fair-haired brothers both had tears streaming down their faces. 

Scott looked up at the Captain, who seemed genuinely sad. He was just able to whisper, "Thank you."

The three brothers turned and went towards TB2. They got into their flying positions, Scott in the pilot's seat, but they didn't moved. TB2 sat quiet in the cornfield. After what seemed like an eternity, Scott hailed his father. "Base from Thunderbird 2, come in father."

"Go ahead, Scott, what is the news on Virgil?" an anxious reply came.  
  
"I'm afraid….." Scott started to choke on his words. He swallowed and tried again. "Uh, the news…." He had to swallow hard for another try. "He's dead" he blurted out. That was all he could say at the moment. He was being stoic, though, no tears. John and Gordon listened as Scott tried to break the news to their father. Both uncharacteristically quiet.

There was a very long pause of silence before Jeff spoke. "Come home boys. Give me the details then." 

The connection was severed.

The ride home was long, silent, and heavy but most of all, empty.

Jeff didn't realize how much time had gone by until he heard Thunderbird 2's engines. He knew his sons were several hours away when he last spoke to them. Now he could hear them arriving. Grandma and Tin-tin were in their rooms, crying. Brains was working away in the lab. He always found it helpful to work when stressed like this. Kyrano was busy in the kitchen. He knew the remaining brothers might be hungry, as they haven't been home in over 24 hrs. He also made coffee and brought a carafe out to the lounge. 

It is funny how the mind works. Jeff was already thinking, "The time he heard TB2 returning last week, was the last time it was Virgil behind the control." The last time they sat down at the dinner table was two nights ago, the last time………… "STOP IT!" his mind shouted. The thought of "never again" wasn't sinking into the heart yet, just the mind. But the mind was going into shock.

Three very weary young men looking much too old walked into the lounge. No one spoke. No one knew what to say. John and Gordon fell into chairs, Scott just stood there. Jeff looked at each of the faces. He not only needed to mourn the loss of one of his sons, but he also had to be there for his other sons. He hadn't told Alan yet. He wants someone to be up there with him. But right now, the two TB3 pilots were beyond piloting the craft up to TB5. He prayed that no other rescue calls would come in, in the next few hours. "John, please go take a nap, so that you can go pick up your brother from TB5. I am closing it down for now. All three boys looked up in surprise. "Even International Rescue is allowed to stop working to mourn their dead." He said. John nodded and left for his room. He was going to take a nice long shower, then a short nap.

Jeff looked down at his hands, then back up at Scott. "What are the details, Scott?"

Scott started from the beginning, explaining who got what job, how far they had gotten into the rescue before the mortar attacks, and when they discovered Virgil missing. He went on to tell of their search, and even about the death of the rebels that the government army found sleeping, thanks to their thermal imager. He described in detail their circuit around the town, and their individual foray into the ravine. He ended it with the wounded captured rebel and Virgil's gun. Jeff sat perfectly still listening to the events. He was not what you would call a sensitive person. Virgil got that from his mother. He had cried only one other time his adult life, and that was when Lucille died. But now his shoulders started to pulse in rhythm to his sobs. He couldn't hold it in anymore. He placed his head on his fisted hands and cried openly. 

Scott just stood there. He didn't have anything left inside him to comfort his dad. He wasn't being mean or spiteful or angry. He just was spent himself. He sat down and just stared at Virgil's portrait. Still the tears didn't come. Gordon got up and went over to his dad and put his arm around the shoulders of his father and wept as well. 

John was refreshed from his shower but couldn't sleep, so he decided to go get Alan. Alan wasn't even being told that someone was coming to pick him up until John was going to be ready to dock. John was approaching TB5, he had 2 hours to think while heading out to get Alan. His mind would be blank for a while, then flood with memories of his younger brother. The ache in his heart was unbearable. Here, alone, he could sob freely. Virgil took his music with him, he would never hear the songs again. Each time he would think of something that he would never have again because it was Virgil, the crying would start over again. The warning light on the console came on indicating he was in his final approach to TB5. He hailed Alan.

"You're ready to dock? I didn't even know you were coming!" came a surprised reply from Alan. "Why didn't you say you were coming?" John could only say, "I'll let you know once I'm docked."

When John walked through the airlock, Alan knew instantly that there was something disastrously wrong. So wrong in fact he was afraid to ask. John's face was puffy from crying, his eyes were swollen and bloodshot, the pain so strong he could feel it. He just froze there waiting for John to say something. Anything. John looked at his baby brother, then to the floor. He stood there trying to think of how to say it. He had 2 hours to think of how to say it, but the thought never crossed his mind. It was too wrapped up in his own sorrow. He tried to look at Alan, but his head was just too heavy. He decided to just blurt it out, "Virgil's dead." 

Alan looked at John, puzzled. "Huh?" He looked around, and tried to peer through the hatch into TB3, "Where's Gordon? This is NOT a funny joke. This is going way over the top." Alan looked back at John. It was starting to sink in, there was nothing funny about this. John's face revealed that this indeed was the truth. Alan slowly sank to his knees, then curled over into a ball and started bawling. In between sobs, John heard, "How", then "Why". Moments later, he heard "what happened?" John bent over the still balled figure of Alan and grabbed hold of his arm. He gently lifted Alan and escorted him to the sofa. He gave him the same details that Scott had given his father hours earlier. Alan looked at John and said, "He's not dead. There's no proof. You don't have a body. I won't believe he's dead until I see his body." John knew that Alan was just in denial. He put his hand behind Alan's neck and touched foreheads with him. "C'mon, we're closing down TB5 and going home." 

Alan looked confused. "Shutting down? Why don't we put her on automatic?"

"Dad said that even International Rescue deserves time off to mourn." John answered.

Alan cried out, "I tell you, he's NOT dead!"

"Alan, let's just go home. We can talk it out later. Dad needs us all there." John insisted softly.

They supported each other and left.


	6. a discovery

Miguel got up early two days after the mortar attack. He wanted very much to know more about the blue soldiers. The sun could be seen shining on the tops of the mountains, but it was still dark in the valley. He left quietly so as not to wake his mother and Jorge Sanches. He hated that man more than anyone else he has ever known. He went out to the makeshift corral and threw a blanket on the burro. He hopped on up with ease and proceeded towards the village. Because there was no way across the ravine, he had to go the long way around the base of the hill he climbed before. The ride will take a couple of hours but the burro had plenty of stamina. The path wound through the ravine, and the forest was draped in a thick mantel of mist. Although it was dark at the bottom of the ravine, there was enough new daylight starting to poke through that he could see easily where he was going. With each step he took, the day at the bottom of the gorge was brightening. 

The hours had passed quietly and he was enjoying the coolness of the forest before the heat of the day took over. He had come to the first of several forks in the path that could take him up to the village. He was going to take the last one, as that would be closest to the great green bird. If he took this first one, it would put him in the Village Square. The next one would take him to the once flourishing catena. The next one went to the church; that was one he used a lot before the war. The path would cross over the stream at each fork because the foliage was too thick on the other side to walk. 

Just after he passed the path to the catena but before the church, he glanced over the stream. Something bright blue caught his eye.

Teresa Velez, Miguel's mother, heard her son leave that morning, as she had another sleepless night. Jorge Sanches had come back. 

When Jorge came home, he was very angry. He had attacked the government and American soldiers in the village the day before. He knew the government brought the Americans in to help fight the rebels. He saw their massive cargo plane, probably loaded with fancy weaponry. These Americans are so cocky that they even wear bright blue as if to taunt his small band of liberators. Well, he had his mortars rain down upon the village. He was angered when the government soldiers found his position much too soon. The remainder of his group scattered quickly but the plan was to regroup the next day at a designated location. However he heard early the next morning that most of his men were slaughtered in their sleep. What technology did those Americans bring that the soldiers could find his band in the dark? The defeat at the government troops angered him and he took it out on Teresa. 

Teresa was incapable of defeating this man, the man who killed her husband when he refused to join the Libertistas. Jorge had a vile temper and often took it out on her. She did what she was told for fear that he would kill her only son. As long as she submitted to him, he pretty much left Miguel alone.

Jorge awoke and demanded his breakfast, and dutifully she obeyed. She went to the water bucket and found it empty. She was upset that Miguel didn't go down to the well and refill the bucket before he left. Now she had to go and get it herself. This would delay Jorge's breakfast, maybe even earning her some more of his wrath. She hoped that he would disappear on one of his multi-day forays. It was the only time she could rest and recover from her bruises. After he was finished eating, he mentioned something about finding who was left in his band and rebuilding it. He would be back whenever. When the door closed, she sighed a big sigh of relief. Then she sat down and cried.

When Miguel was drawn to the patch of bright blue, he crossed over the stream to investigate. He stopped his burro in the stream and went over and knelt down beside the still figure. He was in a dirty white T-shirt and blue pants. Miguel touched the man on the shoulder and withdrew his hand quickly. The man was so cold to the touch. Miguel figured that this is what a dead person must feel like. As he studied the prone still figure, he noticed the blue boots with the yellow band on top. It was then that he realized that this person was one of the blue soldiers. He was saddened by the realization. He saw the miracle they performed 2 days ago with the children. He decided he would ride his burro up to the village and look for soldiers, maybe the ones in the blue uniforms were still there, and he would tell them where to find their compadre. Miguel jumped several feet back when the supposed dead figure opened one blood-shot rheumy eye, tilted his head and tried to speak. Miguel stumbled and landed butt first into the water. Although the man couldn't make any sounds come out of his mouth, he lifted his arm ever so slightly towards Miguel. It was at this moment that Miguel knew what he must do.

"Senor, please, get up. I need you to help me get you on my burro." Virgil heard the young man but his body didn't want to respond to any request to move. After being in the ravine for almost 2 full days, hypothermia and dehydration had set in. He rolled forward trying to get up on his hands and knees but his body just wasn't listening to his commands. He could get his knees underneath him a bit, but his arms just weren't working. He struggled for a while with his knees under him when he toppled over to the other side. He then felt his body moving in what seemed to be on it's own accord, until he realized the young boy was trying to help him up. He couldn't feel the boy's hands on him anywhere. He didn't know if the boy had him by the arms, shoulders, waist or what. His body just seemed to be separated from his mind. It wasn't quite a paralytic feeling, it was more like a total body numbness. He got his knees underneath him again, and he felt his body move into a kneeling position thanks to the help of the boy. He sat back on his heals. He looked at the young man, who had such worry in his face. He saw him grab his upper arm and pull with all his strength. Virgil took advantage of that help and rocked back onto his heals, lifting his knees off the ground, and almost stood up. But he ended up crashing against the rock wall and back down onto the ground. He took a minute to catch his breath.

Miguel used all his young strength to try to help this man up. He was a very well built man and thus very heavy. But he was also in serious trouble, and without his help, he knew he would die. He was almost triumphant when the man was just about vertical and was horrified as he just crumpled against the wall and fell. He saw that he wasn't moving and was afraid that little bit of a strain may have killed him. Relief filled his face when he saw the man try to get up again.

Virgil was ready to go back to sleep. He was so tired that he felt like sleeping for all eternity. But he saw the look of terror on the boy's face and could not die in front of him. He just couldn't do that. He took a deep breath and rolled over onto his knees again. He could feel his arms move a little bit this time, but still not enough to be useful. The boy once again grabbed his upper arm and helped him straighten up into a kneeling position. He rested a moment then rocked back on his heals, lifted his knees and tried to straighten up again. Once again he fell. But this time, he was closer to the rock wall and actually fell against it and used it for support. He stood on wobbly legs leaning against the rock wall, arms limp at his side.

Miguel saw his chance to get the man on his burro. He grabbed the burro by the bridle and tried to pull him close to the sick man. The burro wanted nothing to do with that. He braced his legs and remained locked where he was. Miguel knew the depth of stubbornness that his ass had. He just sighed and looked at the standing man just a few feet away. To him, they were probably several miles for all he could manage. But he could see into his eyes that he realized that he was the one that was going to have to move, not the burro. He also saw the resolve in his eyes to do just that.

Virgil saw the young man struggle and fight with the burro. He thought to himself that 'ass' fit the animal perfectly and that is probably where the word originated. Unfortunately, the smile didn't make it to his face, he couldn't feel it. He tried to communicate to the boy to come over and support him, that he would try to make it to the burro. 

Miguel went over to the blue soldier so much in need of help. He put the well-muscled arm over his shoulder and his arm around the waist. He was so cold, he was amazed that the man was even alive. He felt the man shift his weight onto him. He was so heavy, pure muscle, and he hoped that he could get him over to the burro. It was only a few feet, but what a long few feet it was. He took a step and waited. The man shifted his weight and moved one foot forward. He took another step and waited. The man once again, took another step. Miguel waited for just a moment sensing that just that small effort was a lot for him. He took two more small steps and rested. This continued until they were standing next to the donkey. He grabbed the burro and let the man fall forward so that his upper body rested on the burro's front half. For once he was grateful the sturdy little animal was small. With the weight of the man mostly on the burro, he was able to lift the man's right leg over the animal's back. For a second there, the man almost went over the other side, but Miguel was able to grab him and balance him squarely on the back of his little donkey. 

When Virgil let himself fall onto the back of the burro, he felt the strange sensation of just continuing on over performing a 10-point header into the stream. It was a bizarre feeling because normally one would have reflexes to stop such an unwanted advance. But there were no reflexes working in his body at the moment. Then he felt himself being pulled back and centered on the burro's back. He turned his head and rested it on the animal's neck so that he could watch the young man. He wondered if this boy knew him. He tried several times to speak, but nothing happened. He wasn't even sure if he lips were moving. He saw the boy turn the burro around and cross over the stream. They headed on a path away from where he first found himself.


	7. Mi casa Su casa

Teresa was outside sitting down near the fire tossing a tortilla back and forth between her hands. She was preparing them for the meal at the end of the day. The sun was very warm on her face today, and the humidity was down for once. It was going to be a wonderfully warm dry day, a rare day. Now, if there were no distant sounds of gunfire, the day would be perfect. She was hoping that Miguel would come home soon. She knew he left because of Jorge. She also knew that he felt inadequate for not being able to rid the house of that madman. He tried once and almost had his life beaten out of him. Miguel tried to be the man of the house, but at 13 yrs old, he didn't have the capability yet. But with Jorge now gone for several days, she could share some time with her son. 

The path was next to a particularly steep part of the hill and the burro tried to compensate having one side of the path higher than the other. The jostling eventually caused Virgil to slide sideways off the back of the little beast. He landed with a thud. The bad news was that he hit a fairly large boulder with his ribs. The good news was that he actually felt the pain. When he landed he let out with a loud grunt. Miguel saw too late that the injured man was sliding off the donkey. Miguel went to put the blanket back on the burro before he put his new charge back on, but then realized that it would probably be better if he put the blanket on the man. Using the same technique as before, he was able to get the man back on the donkey, then he draped the blanket over top of him. They still had about an hour left to go before reaching home. The bottom of the ravine was always much cooler than out in the open where his house is. So he wanted to get home and into the warm sun before it was too late for this stranger. His mother would know how to help him. But he wasn't sure what he was going to do about Jorge. Jorge would kill this man for sure. There was a small cave not far from his home, maybe he could put the man there and his mother could come give him first aid. He had an hour to work out his plan.

A pall hung over Tracy Island not seen since the days of Lucille's death. They all thought they were prepared for something like this since they were in such a dangerous occupation. But no one can really be prepared for the loss of a family member. Scott's temper turned quick. John was listless. Gordon's humor was gone, and Alan was in denial. He kept threatening to go back to Cumaguay to find Virgil. Jeff was hardly at his desk anymore. He could be found in the library sifting through hundreds of volumes of books that covered everything from hi-technology to horticulture to clothing catalogues. Scott flew his jet around, taking his frustrations and mourning out on the high-speed maneuvers. John tried to learn scuba diving from Gordon. Being in space all the time that was one thing he never really got into. Gordon was busy teaching John, but the jokes were missing. Grandma did so much baking, that she was giving the goods away to needy families. Kyrano, was trying to find just the right mix of flowers to blend in order to create a new specie that he could honor Virgil with. Tin-tin was at her wits end trying to get Alan away from the fixation of going back to Cumaguay.

Stuart was in the stalled gondola over 100 feet in the air, helpless as he saw the ski chalet buried under the avalanche of snow. He was bringing the portable radio up to the tower when power was lost on the lifts. He immediately put a call into the main base, but got no answer. He tried to get hold of anybody. The only people he heard from were buried but still alive in the chalet. Their radio still worked, but those people were the ones needing help. He waited just a few minutes and decided that the only one left to call was International Rescue. He tried calling but he got no reply. He tried again, and still got no reply. He always read or heard that they respond immediately. He checked over his radio and found that the batteries were fresh and he was picking up radio signals from almost the other side of the world. He kept trying and trying. Then with a sigh, he put the radio down. He was under the impression that even if they were on another rescue, there was always someone around to answer the call. It must not have been true for he had been trying for over an hour to get International Rescue on the line. He felt helpless. He couldn't remember when International Rescue didn't exist even though it was only a few years ago. They just always seemed to have been there.

Miguel peered around the large rock that stood at the edge of the forest and his yard. He saw his mother feeding the chickens. He stood there for a long while and waited to see if Jorge would show. Jorge would never let his mother be alone for long without wanting her to do something for him. So if she remains out here feeding the chickens for any length of time, that would mean Jorge had left. He could hear her softly singing to herself. That was a good sign. 

As he stood there she turned around and caught him half-hiding behind the rock. Teresa had never known her son to be so afraid that he would feel the need to hide. She called out, "Miguel, it is ok, Jorge is gone again. Probably for several days." She saw a smile cross her son's face as he emerged with the burro following behind him. Her eyes flew wide opened.

Miguel thought that God was looking down upon him and his charge when he heard that Jorge had left for several days. He could not have asked for better luck. He came from behind the rock and led the burro into the yard towards his mother. However he was surprised by the look on her face. He thought for sure that she would be happy that he found someone to help them. But what he saw was fear instead. 

She ran towards her son and the burro with the body across it. "Miguel! Was is it that you bring here?!" She asked in fear and surprise.

"Momma, this is one of the blue soldiers I told you about yesterday. Remember? I told you how they were saving the children from the church before the mortar attack. He is badly hurt and needs our help." Miguel pleaded, seeing resistance in his mother's eyes.

"No, take him back where you found him. Let his own find him and take care of him. Jorge will kill us and him if he were to find that man here." His mother said sternly.

Miguel stood for a minute, summing up the courage to defy his mother. He knew that taking care of this man was the right thing to do and the only option he had to rid himself and his mother of Jorge. Not knowing if the soldiers in blue were still at the village, he knew that his mother would not know either. "Momma, his compadres have left already. There is no one left at the village anymore except a few people that did not want to evacuate. Even our soldiers are gone. Besides, he is in bad shape, he won't make the journey back there. Momma, we can't let him die. There is a reason God allowed me to find him when I did. We have to help him."

Teresa, being the religious person that she was, felt that Miguel was correct when he said there was a reason why God allowed him to find the hurt man when he did. She even thought that the timing could not have been better since Jorge just left on one of his forays. "Ok, bring him over here, what is wrong with him?"

Miguel, obviously pleased, said, "I am not sure entirely what is wrong but he is very cold. I didn't even think he was alive when I first found him."

"Ok, bring him inside." Teresa hesitated a moment, thinking. "No, better to leave him out here, the sun is warmer out here and especially next to the fire." Miguel brought the burro beside the fire. Teresa brought over a straw mat for Virgil to lay on. Miguel then just basically guided Virgil's slide off the donkey. When Teresa came over to examine the injured man, she was shocked at his body temperature. She looked up at Miguel, "Where did you find him? He should be dead, he is so cold."

Miguel answered, "Just before the path up to the church, under a rock overhang."

She ordered, "Go into the house and bring out all the blankets we have." She then took a stick and started to fish out the rocks that circled the fire. When Miguel returned she put one blanket over Virgil then added several of the hot rocks around him on the blanket. This way, he would benefit from the heat without getting burned by direct contact with the hot rocks. She then put another blanket on top and took several of the smaller rocks and placed them between his legs and between his arms and body. Again with the blanket in between. "Miguel, go fetch some more river stone, we need to warm him up as much as possible. With that, Miguel grabbed the empty water bucket and proceeded to the stream. He picked out a variety of stones, some large, some small, some round, some flat. When the bucket was full and almost too heavy for him to carry, he lugged his prize back to his mother who proceeded to put the rocks all around the fire. He had seen that while he was doing that, she built the fire up a bit more. 

Teresa kept vigil over the injured man, often feeling his forehead for signs of warmth or maybe even fever. When she could easily handle the rocks that were next to the stranger, she would fish out more hot rocks and place them around the hypothermic man. Then she would put the cooled rocks back near the fire. She had Miguel go fetch fresh water as well, she was sure that this man would be dehydrated. She wouldn't recognize such a large medical word, but she did know that water was necessary for life. And from the details that Miguel had told her about the men in blue, the attack and now, she figured that he had been hurt for more than two days. After about an hour, he started shivering. First it was almost unnoticeable, but then turned into violent tremors. Miguel looked at her worriedly, and she said, "Don't worry, he will be ok." Trying to convince herself of that as well.


	8. I don't know

From the day he found out that Virgil was killed and there was no body, Alan had been trying to plan a way to get back there and find the proof. Either he would find Virgil or his body. He didn't listen to reason when he was always asked, "If Virgil was alive, why hasn't he contacted us? If he was hurt, he should be better enough by now to be able to find a way to contact us." But Alan did not want to hear such logic. He wanted proof. "He could be held captive!" he often retorted.

John approached Jeff, in the library several days after that fateful day. "Father, when do you want me to go back to TB5?" Jeff looked up at John, then went back to reading. After what seemed an eternity to John, and a feeling of being snubbed, Jeff looked back at John and said softly, "Never." That was all he said, and he went on reading. John decided to leave it alone for the moment. He was sure he would get back to TB5, but his father wasn't ready yet. But he did want to go bring some things home that he had left up there that he won't want there permanently. So he asked his dad if he could go get his belongings. Jeff answered, "Not yet. I don't want any of my sons leaving right now. That is all we need is for you to have an accident going up to the satellite." 

Teresa didn't realize that shivering was a response to feeling cold and that in a situation of too cold the body didn't shiver. So in actuality, his body had warmed up enough to feel the cold, and thus the shivering. It was a good sign. He was chattering so hard, she was afraid he would end up breaking his teeth or biting his tongue, so she ran into the house for a small clean cloth and stuffed it into his mouth. She didn't know what else to do. The two Cumaguans just stood there watching this man shivering so hard that it looked as if he was having fits. Miguel looked to his mother with such worry in his eyes that she pulled him close and held him. After what seemed an eternity, the injured man's tremors started to subside. When they finally subsided she removed the cloth from his mouth. And when he looked to be just sleeping quietly, Teresa removed the rocks. She kept the blankets on. 

Teresa had been keeping an eye on the stranger bundled under the blankets as she went through her daily chores. She noticed that as the blood circulated out to his skin and extremities, the deeper cuts started to bleed. She would need to dress his wounds soon. She turned to Miguel who kept vigil next to the injured man. "Go into the house and bring me the clean bandages and alcohol." He did as she asked. She knelt down next to Virgil and felt his forehead. He no longer felt like he had ice in his veins, but he had a comforting warmth to his skin. She peeled back the many layers of blankets and saw for the first time his real condition. She saw that he attempted to bandage a severe wound on his left arm. He was covered with cuts and bruises. She could see that his right knee was swelling even through the trousers. Blood was starting to form on the grass mat that he laid upon, so when Miguel returned with the medical supplies, she asked him to help turn the wounded man on his side so that she could examine his back. What she saw surprised her. His back was covered with shrapnel wounds, several of them deep. She looked to Miguel, anger showing in her eyes. "Where did you say you found him? He is nothing but a mercenary. Jorge was right, he said that Americans were brought in to fight. They fight for whatever side offers money, and they ravage the land and the people. I will not help him."

"No, mamma, he is not a mercenary. He did not have a weapon, none of them did. They helped rescue children from the church when it collapsed. That is what they were doing when the rebels started with the mortar fire. I think that is what happened to this man. He was running for cover and was hurt when a mortar exploded so close to him. I think maybe he was the one in the giant machine. The one that was holding up one of the walls of the church so that it did not fall on the people still left inside. No mamma, he is not a mercenary, that I am sure of." Miguel said pleadingly.

She looked back at the man, saw the bright blue pants and boots, and thought that no mercenary would wear such clothing to make such an obvious target. Maybe Jorge was wrong after all. He had said that they were American soldiers. Well maybe American, but not soldiers. She looked back at her son and asked, "You are sure he had no weapon?"

He answered, "Yes, I am sure"

She asked her son to go into the house and bring back the small but very sharp knife. When he did, she stuck it in the fire. She was going to do the only thing she knew how to do when it came to medicine, primitive but effective. While the knife was heating, she was preparing to remove Virgil's T-shirt in one piece but decided that it was too badly damaged to try to save. So she cut it off. He could wear her husband's clothes since there was no one to wear them anymore. Her husband was built much smaller than this man was but the clothes were cut roomy. Some of the clothes should fit.

She was not so old that she could not appreciate the physique of the person who lay before her. He obvious worked hard for a living. He had a strong build with no fat to spare. Her eyes feasted but a moment when she got back to the task of repairing him. She decided to work on his back first and had Miguel roll him completely over onto his stomach. When she felt the knife was ready, she pulled it out of the fire with a thick piece of cloth. Carefully going over all the shrapnel wounds, she found which ones were just cuts and which ones still contained pieces of metal and proceeded to remove them with the hot sterile knife. Luckily they all seemed to be close to the surface. She did not hesitate when she had to work on the lower part of his body. To her, she was just working. When she finished, she took the grain alcohol and poured it over his wounds. Thankfully he was not awake for that. She took the one large square clean cloth and placed it on his back. She took smaller pieces and placed them against his buttocks and legs. They gingerly rolled him over onto his back so that she could check his front. Once she finishes with his front, she will bind everything so that the bandages will stay. There were no mortar wounds on his front, they seemed to be all from his fall. She looked at a large bruise starting to show over his ribcage. She felt them and they felt spongy, not good. She thinks several were broken. None of the larger bones in either leg or arm seemed broken, that was good, but there was a very deep gash in his left arm. She had removed his bandage and cleaned the wound the best she could and used the alcohol liberally. When she finished checking him over as best she could, she bound all the bandages. He looked like a mummy after she was done dressing the wounds. That thought brought a brief smile to her face. She turned to Miguel who had watched his mother intently and silently. "Miguel, would you go find a shirt and leggings from your father's things that will fit him?" Miguel looked over the still figure, sized him up and ran inside. 

They finished dressing the still unconscious man. Teresa looked at what was left of the blue uniform and debated whether to keep them or burn them. She tossed the T-shirt into the fire, but folded the blue pants and laid the boots on top and brought them into the house. She hid them in a corner. 

As she came outside, she noticed that there was little time left in the day. "We will have to find a way to get him into the house for the night. It will get too cold out here for him. But let's eat first."

She served a thick stew made of beans and vegetables and spooned it onto the tortillas. Miguel was hungry, he hadn't eaten all day as he had been so busy. He sat next to the still man hoping he would awaken. He wanted him to eat something, to gain his strength back quickly. He will need to be strong and well when Jorge returned. Mother and son sat quietly eating while watching the man. With a mouthful of food, Miguel said, "I think the mat is strong enough, we could drag him into the house." Teresa chewed slowly, thinking. The pathway to the house was not rough, there were no rocks, they could probably handle it. Miguel could see her deep in thought and slightly nodding her head. She liked his idea.

As she was mulling over Miguel's suggestion, the stranger moaned and showed signs of waking up. Teresa put down her half eaten tortilla wrap and moved closer to him. "Senor, senor" she said softly, gently shaking him by the shoulder. He tried to roll over, groaned and rolled back, it was only when he was flat on his back again that he slowly opened his eyes. They took a while to focus on her. Without realizing that they were speaking Spanish to him, he asked, "Where am I?" Teresa, who knew English well, answered, "You are at my casa, in the valley. You are American, yes?"

Virgil slowly nodded 'yes' and looked about him. Teresa pulled her son over and said, "My son, Miguel, found you and brought you here. He saved your life." Virgil weakly lifted his arm up to shake Miguel's hand, and whispered, "Thank you". Miguel answered, I only found you, it was my mother who saved your life. Virgil looked towards Teresa, smiled and mouthed "thank you." He fell back asleep.

Teresa thought, "Well at least he is alive."

"I hoped he would have stayed awake long enough for me to give him some water," she said to her son. She went back to eating, watching the man carefully in case he woke up again.

When their evening meal was over, Teresa asked Miguel to start the fire inside the house then to prepare a place next to the fire for the wounded man. When Miguel returned outside with the news that his assignment had been completed, Teresa tried to wake the man up. At first he didn't respond, but then he slowly came out of his fugue. "Senor, we want to move you inside next to the fire where it will be warm tonight. Can you get up?" He hesitated then nodded yes. He painfully rolled over onto his side, got his knees underneath him, rocked back on his heals with the help of Miguel, had dejavu of doing this before, and stood up wobbly.

Leaning heavily on Miguel, but this time with the help of Teresa, Virgil was able to walk the few yards into the house and onto the 'bed' that Miguel had prepared on the floor next to the fire. Miguel had set up another place right next to the man for himself. He planned on keeping close in case he was needed.

When they got Virgil down on floor, Teresa asked him if he wanted water, he nodded yes. Miguel helped prop him up high enough to be able to drink the water being offered him by Teresa. As she was holding the cup for him, she said, "My name is Teresa, Senor, what is yours?" Virgil stopped drinking. He paused with a blank look on his face. Teresa thinking that maybe he didn't hear or understand asked again, "Senor, what is your name?" Virgil made eye contact with Teresa and said quietly, "I don't know."


	9. Victor

The next day came and went with the stranger sleeping most of the day. He would periodically wake up, take a sip of water from either Miguel or Teresa, but was not strong enough to eat yet. Teresa was very worried, he needed to drink more water and was in desperate need of nourishment. Miguel balked and doing his daily chores, but frequently took a break to peek in to see if the man had woken up yet. Between the chores of both Miguel and Teresa, there always seemed to be someone inside the house to be near him. As Teresa and Miguel were eating a late dinner, he awoke for more than a couple of minutes. Miguel was on the floor in an instant providing water. The stranger drank about half a cup. Teresa offered some of the stew she had made for herself and her son. He was able to eat three spoonfuls before succumbing to sleep again. When the meal was over and everything done for the day Miguel settled back down on the bed he had made for himself next to the injured man. It seemed a long time before sleep would overtake him.

Miguel and the stranger were sound asleep on the floor. Teresa sat at the table drinking a cup of tea. She was contemplating the events of the past several days. She was worried about the stranger who couldn't remember his name. But she was more worried at the prospect of what would happen if Jorge returned home when the stranger was still here. She knows he will kill the stranger. But she was more afraid that he would kill her son because he brought that man to the house. In the morning, she will have to have Miguel bring the injured man back to the town. He will be well enough to travel back in the morning.

Miguel woke up very early, before the sunrise. He was still anxious about the man sleeping next to him. It was too dark to see much, so he quietly got up and started the fire going again. In the firelight, he got a good look at the stranger. He seemed to be sleeping peacefully. His face was marred by many cuts and scratches and bruises were starting to show up. Miguel looked up and was surprised to see his mother sitting at the table. She had her head down on her folded arms. Apparently she fell asleep there. He looked at the water bucket and saw that it was half-empty, so he grabbed it and slipped out the door. He went to get fresh water.

A soft moan coming from the stranger woke Teresa up. She saw that Miguel was already up. When she went to get a cup of water to offer the injured man, she noticed the bucket was gone as well. She knew that Miguel was getting fresh water. She went over to the man laying next to the fire, "Senor, are you awake?"

Virgil opened his eyes and for the first time they were clear and alert. He looked up at Teresa, and croaked, "Good morning, Teresa." Hearing how dry he sounded Teresa said, "Miguel is getting fresh water. He will be back soon." Not knowing when he left, she looked around and saw that she had a cup of water left out for the stranger from the night before. He didn't drink it all. So she offered him what was left. He took it gratefully and drank it all. "Thank you." She noticed already that his voice was not so dry. 

Virgil stiffly got up off the floor and hobbled over to the table and sat down on one of the chairs. He looked around taking in his surroundings. "Where am I? How did I get here?" he asked. 

Teresa answered, "My son found you in the ravine near the town and brought you here. You must have been there two days as you were very cold. I think you were caught in the mortar attack on the village, you have shrapnel wounds on your back. You must be hungry, you haven't eaten much in over 36 hrs."

He answered, "I'm more thirsty right now. Uh, where is 'here'?"

"We live near the town of San Pablo de los Angeles." She said. When she saw that he still had a puzzled look on his face, she continued, "In Cumaguay."

"Do you know me?" he asked.

Teresa showing concern answered, "No, we did not meet until 2 days ago. Don't you remember who you are or where you came from?"

He just shook his head 'no'. "Two days ago?" he questioned.

"Yes, you slept all of yesterday. Do you know you name?" she asked.

He sat there concentrating, slowly shaking his head 'no' and saying. "V….V….uh, …" She offered, "Is it Vincent? Victor? I know they are American names." 

"I don't know, it could be either. Are you sure I'm American?" 

Teresa answered, "Yes, we are almost sure you are American. You have an American accent." She went to the corner and pulled what was left of his blue uniform over to him. "Do you recognize these? You were wearing them when we found you."

Again, he shook his head 'no'.

"Well Senor, I cannot keep calling you Senor. What shall I call you for now until you remember your real name?" 

Virgil tossed around the two names beginning with V in his head. Neither seemed to be his name, but Victor seemed to feel more comfortable. Virgil said, "Victor, that is just as good as any name." He looked around some more and said, "Where did you say Miguel went?"

Teresa, with a sudden look of worry on her face said, "He went to get water, but he should have been back by now."

Victor looked at her, then at the water pump inside the house, next to a sink. "Why did he go out for water, when you have a pump here?"

She quickly looked over at the old pump and said, "It hasn't worked for almost a year. I am worried about Miguel." And she started to leave. Victor got up concerned and asked, "Where does he get the water from?"

As she reached the door, she answered, "A well around back." She opened the door and proceeded to leave when Victor said, "Wait, I'm coming with you." He used the table to help him stand up, but realizing that he won't be able to walk unassisted he looked around. He saw in the corner, a wooden handle. The head of a hoe that had obviously broken off sat on the floor next to it. He grabbed the handle and hobbled after Teresa who was already headed out the door.

She had hurried around the side of the house so fast that Victor lost sight of her. But he heard her scream. He headed as quickly as he could to the sound. He rounded the back of the house to see her leaning over the wall of a well. The log over the well that had supported the water bucket on its journey down into the well was broken. There was no sign of Miguel or the water bucket. She looked up, pleading to Victor, "He is down there. Miguel has fallen into the well." Victor seemed to know exactly what to do. He ordered, "Go get the burro, with his blanket and more ropes or harnesses, whatever you have." He then looked at the surrounding forest around him. From where he was standing he saw a branch that would work perfectly but was still attached to the tree. As Teresa came back dragging the burro, he asked, "Do you have a saw or ax? Something to cut wood with?" She pointed to a good size ax leaning against the house next to a small pile of firewood. Victor quickly hobbled over to the house and grabbed the ax. He then headed to the branch that he spotted. At about 5 feet from where the branch was attached to the trunk of the tree, Victor started hacking at it. He was balanced precariously on his one good leg, so he wasn't able to go through the 4 inch branch as fast as he thought he could. But it still took only moments. He removed the twigs still left on this larger branch then started at the base, where it attached to the trunk. A few solid swings and Victor was through the branch. He dropped the ax and picked up the thick log and hobbled back to the well. He placed the log onto the two forked supports. He turned to the burro and placed the blanket around his neck and shoulders for cushion. He then fashioned the rope about the donkey's neck and chest like a harness. He said to Teresa, "When I give you the signal pull the burro forward." She just nodded. He threw the length of rope over the top of the newly chopped log. Victor then took a small piece of leather that Teresa had brought over to possibly use as a harness on the burro and used it to make a harness around his own waist and legs. He threaded the end of the rope that was hanging over the log through his makeshift harness and then threw it down the well. He climbed over the wall. Just before he started his descent he told Teresa to hold the burro still. He put pressure on the rope, saw that the burro did not move then rappelled down into the well.

On a ledge just feet above the water, hung an unconscious Miguel. Victor straddled the boy putting most of his weight on his good leg. With the rope that he just rappelled down, he tied a harness around Miguel, then yelled up to Teresa, "Ok Teresa, take us up slowly."

As Teresa pulled the little burro forward, he stopped when he felt the pressure around his chest. Teresa picked up a stick and tapped the little fella on the rump. After several annoying taps he started to move forward, pulling up his charges. When Victor could grab the top of the wall, he called for Teresa to stop.

She stopped the burro, but was afraid to leave him in case he were to either move forward or worse, back up. She watched as Victor pushed Miguel up onto the wall, then hoisted himself up and over the wall. Balancing on one leg again, he pulled Miguel onto the ground. It was only then that Teresa left the donkey and ran over to her son. Within minutes Miguel opened his eyes and with a start sat up. Teresa asked, "Are you ok, Miguel, what happened?" 

Miguel thought for a minute then said, "The water bucket got hung up on the ledge, and as I leaned over to try to undo it, I must have been leaning on the rope when the support broke. I remember falling into the well, but not landing." He felt down at his clothing and asked, "I didn't fall into the water?" Victor said, "No, the same ledge that caught the bucket, also caught you." Miguel looked up at Victor, "You saved me?" He nodded, 'yes' and answered, "I just did what anyone would do, I only climbed down and got you out. It was nothing, really." Miguel studied the face of the man who just saved his life, noticing that he was turning pale. "Senor, are you ok? You don't look so good." With that Victor collapsed. It was too much exertion so soon after the trauma he had been through recently, especially without having any food in over 3 days. 


	10. A new life begins

Miguel, having nothing but bruises, ran to get the mat that the stranger laid on yesterday and brought it back around the house. They rolled him onto it and dragged him back to the spot beside the fire where he spent most of yesterday. After checking over her son to make sure he was ok, and him responding by fidgeting her away, Teresa went about making breakfast. She needed to get food into Victor as soon as he woke up so she reheated a filled tortilla from the night before that she had made for him, but he never ate. While she was preparing her and her son's breakfast Victor stirred.

Jorge had found only four of his remaining men. And there were no new recruits to be found. His disposition was turning more sour by the hour. He and his small band tried to steal an army truck full of weapons and failed miserably. They were lucky that they all escaped with their lives. The five of them were about a day away from San Pablo, when they hit a mine and the jeep they were riding in lost a whole wheel. They now had the choice of walking all the way back or finding another vehicle to steal. They opted for the latter.

Victor woke up and immediately remembered what had happened. "Sorry about that, I guess that was a little bit too much too soon," he said to Teresa and slowly sat up on the mat. 

"Are you hungry? You should eat, Victor. That is probably why you collapsed" she said, immediately followed by Miguel asking, "You remember? Your name is Victor?"

"Well actually, no. I don't remember, but I think my name began with a V and your mom suggested either Vincent or Victor, and though neither one of them really rings a bell as far as being my name, Victor just seemed to fit a little better than Vincent. So, I am going by that name, at least for now." Victor said with a smile. Then turning to Teresa, "Yes, I am hungry." He paused then added, "And thirsty." 

Miguel looked at Victor and said, "I lost the water bucket when I fell in." Victor noticed that he wanted to add to that but didn't say anything more. Victor said, "Then why don't we go get it. He remembered the hoe head inside the house and asked Miguel to go get it. While Miguel went inside, Victor got up and using the handle, hobbled to the back of the house where the well was. He gathered the rope that he had used to pull Miguel out of the well and waited for him to show. Miguel came trotting around the corner of the house and handed Victor the hoe head. Victor tied the rope around the neck of the hoe and leaning on the well wall, lowered the hoe towards the bucket. It was floating on it's side, so it took a little fishing to get it turned just right so as to snag the handle. But within 5 minutes, they were hauling up a full bucket of water. Miguel brought the bucket back to his mother since Victor needed his hands to hold onto his makeshift crutch as he gimped back to the fire and sat down on the mat. She dipped a cup into the bucket and handed it to Victor. He drank it dry and asked for more. With two full cups of water inside him, he took the tortilla that was offered him by Teresa. Although he was now feeling very hungry, he ate slowly. He knew from what he had been told so far that he hadn't eaten in days. He didn't want his stomach to react negatively to the food. His stomach did rebel slightly at the intrusion, but not enough to cause an upset. He was able to finish the tortilla.

Teresa, who had her mind set at sending the injured man back to the village, quickly changed her mind when he so readily, in his weakened condition, rescued Miguel. She still didn't know what to do about Jorge, but at the moment she wasn't going to send the man away. She also knew that somewhere, someone was missing him and probably looking for him. She would need to find out who those other Americans were in the blue uniforms. But she figured she still had a day or two before she needed to worry, and that time would be used in letting the stranger heal. Maybe even well enough so that he will drive Jorge away. But she let that thought quickly slip away. Jorge was not Victor's problem. She wasn't going to ask him to get rid of Jorge. That would not be right.

When breakfast was over, Teresa made Victor take his top off and unwrap the mummy like bandages. With the wrap off, he looked like a patchwork quilt with all the white pieces of cloth covering his wounds. He cautiously lay face down on the straw mat so that she could examine the wounds on his back. She pulled the large white cloth carefully off his back. He flinched ever so slightly as she separated the stuck on cloth from each wound. Unfortunately that did start several of the larger ones bleeding again. She did not like the looks of two of them, and asked Miguel to get the alcohol. "Victor, I'm sorry, but I'm afraid you aren't going to like this. Please hold still. It will take but a minute." She said and poured the alcohol onto his wounds. Victor's hands clenched and his whole body tensed up, but he made not a sound. "Please stay as you are, Victor. I do not have another clean cloth and need to launder this one. It will be good to let your wounds dry in the air, then they won't stick to the bandage. She poured some of the hot water, always by the fire, into a bowl and quickly cleaned the cloth. After she had cleaned it, she poured some of the alcohol over it. While the cloth was sitting in the alcohol, she went and got her 'dryer' from the barn. She didn't use it often, it was more for stretching wet garments while they dried than to actually dry them. But she knew she could set the frame over the fire and put the cloth on it to let it dry much faster. 

Victor in the mean time had gingerly rolled straight from laying face down into a sitting position so not to have his back touch anything. This was when he felt for the first time a deep pain in his side. With his shirt off, he was finally able to see what he looked like. He was loaded with cuts, abrasions and bruises. The large coloring over his ribs added with the gentle prodding of his fingers, told him he had some damage. But he couldn't tell if they were broken, cracked or just bruised. While he was sitting, Teresa came over and examined his chest wounds. They looked better than the ones on his back, but then they weren't as deep. "I think we can keep the bandages off your front wounds and just keep it on your back." He looked up at her and said, "You're the doctor." She looked at him puzzled, "No I am not a doctor. I learned this from my mother years ago. We have to take care of ourselves because we do not have a doctor around." Blushing slightly that she didn't get the joke, he simply said, "You're doing a very good job."

"Please lay down on your front again." She commanded. He did as he was asked, careful to use the expelled cloths from his front wounds, between his skin and the straw mat. When he relaxed into the position, she pulled at his pants. Although she did this yesterday, he was unconscious at the time. He was fully awake and reacted quickly to the intrusion of his privacy. Unfortunately, it was onto his back that his quick reaction took him. Sitting up rapidly he let out with a muffled scream. Startled by his reaction, Teresa fell back. "Senor, I was only checking on the rest of your wounds. I have already seen all there is to see, you need not react so. Now what have you done to your back?"

Realizing his mistake, he slowly laid down on his front again. Teresa saw that he had gotten dirt into some of his wounds. This angered her. She went back to cleaning his back with hot water, then the alcohol again, knowing that it hurt. Because she was angered at his reaction, she was a little more aggressive with the cleaning and scolded, "I don't know why you had to do that. I do not like inflicting pain on such damaged skin such is your back. I know this hurts you. Who do you think dressed the wounds to your buttocks and legs yesterday? Now are you going to let me look at your other wounds?" 

Victor just lifted his head and nodded 'yes', then rested it on the mat again. As Teresa began to pull the pants down, she could feel him tense up. But there was no more reaction than that. She took the cloth off the worst of the wounds on his butt. Then went onto examine the leg wounds. Even from the back she could see that the right knee was still very swollen. "Victor, I'm sorry, but I do need to pour more alcohol on some of these wounds as well." He just lay quietly and nodded 'yes' again. Clenching his hands and gritting his teeth, he waited for that ordeal to be over. She was able to put fresh bandages on his lower body since they were smaller and she still had several clean ones left. 

The bandages were homemade and did not come with adhesives. The only way they stayed on was to wrap a roll of cloth around his body. As she reached underneath him below the hips to wrap the butt wound, he tensed up considerably. He almost lost it, but he forced himself to keep control. He was not comfortable at all with having a strange woman place her hands a little too close to a part of his body that he preferred to save for intimate settings. It got even more unsettling when she wrapped one of his leg wounds and had to place one of her hands in between his legs. If the boy wasn't there watching his mother work, Victor would have leapt right up onto his feet pulling his pants on in mid flight. But as it stood, he remained quiet in the prone and oh so vulnerable position. Quiet, but TENSE.

Sensing that he was feeling very compromised, she quickly pulled his pants back up and helped tie them around his waist. Then as he got up, using the _up on all fours _method so as not to hit his back again, but before settling into the seated position, she playfully slapped him on his undamaged _cheek._ "Relax Victor, I am only concerned about your wounds, nothing else," But she had lied, for she could not help but notice the beautifully chiseled body that this stranger had. 

Victor sat up straight for if he began to slouch, the drying wounds would pull and hurt. Getting tire from sitting so straight on the ground, he stood up with the help of the handle. Holding the handle he thought back to the morning's adventures. He then remembered that there is a pump inside the house. He turned to Teresa, "Do you mind if I take a look at the pump inside the house?" She replied, "Go right ahead, you can't break it any worse than it already is."

Miguel followed Victor into the house. Victor turned to Miguel, "Do you have any tools? Something that I can take the pump head off with?" Miguel nodded 'yes' and disappeared outside. When Miguel came back into the house, he saw Victor bent over intently studying the pump. He looked at the tools that Miguel had, grabbed a wrench and proceeded to remove the bolts holding the pump together. Miguel watched him as he dismantled the pump with ease. With several pieces lying around, Victor asked, "Do you have a piece of rubber? Like an inner tube?"

Miguel sat there for a while trying to think if they had a piece of rubber anywhere. Then his eyes lit up. "I will be right back, I know where I could find a piece." And he ran out the door. 

Victor hobbled to the door and looked out waiting for Miguel to return. His knee was hurting too much to go far, so he just stood there watching Teresa working on various chores around the yard. Periodically she checked the cloth on the drying rack to see if it was ready to put on his back. After watching her he turned back into the house and went back to the pump. He started to pry off the useless gasket at the base of the pump when Miguel came back into the house huffing and puffing. He held in his hand a bicycle inner tube. "Will this do, Senor?" Victor's eyes lit up. "Yes indeed it will. It is perfect. Where did you get it?" There is a rusty part of a bicycle down by the stream. There was still one wheel left on it and I opened it up and found that." He said proudly. Victor proceeded to cut it up to fit where the old gasket was on the pump. "Do you have any grease?" he asked. Miguel answered, "Would pig fat work?" Victor thought for a moment. He was thinking more along the lines of axle grease, but for this purpose, pork fat would work. "Sure, go get it for me."

Dipping his hands into the grease Victor worked at creating a smooth surface with the new rubber gasket. He put the pump back together, and bolted it back on. "Ok," he said, "Keep your fingers crossed." And he slowly started to pump the handle up and down. One, two, three, four pumps and still no water. Five, six, and Miguel's hope at having water coming into the house was fading. Suddenly a spurt of rusty water sputtered out of the faucet. A few more pumps and the water was flowing nicely, and clearing up. "Momma, momma, come see this!" exclaimed Miguel as he ran towards the door. 

Teresa, hearing a very excited son calling her, ran to the house. She came through the door just as Victor pumped the handle the last time. She covered her mouth with her hands and just stood there in awe. "How did you do that?"

Victor replied nonchalantly, "It simply needed a new seal. There was no vacuum being created with the old gasket."

In both Miguel's and Teresa's eyes, this man that has found his way into their home was a miracle. God has sent him to them in answer to many of their prayers. 


	11. the Funeral

Jorge was growing meaner with each failure. They had been hoofing it back to San Pablo de los Angeles because they were unsuccessful at stealing another vehicle. They were covered in muck and sewage when they had to jump into a ditch to avoid a government convoy that drove by. Even his men were trying to avoid him as he would start a fight without provocation.

Teresa ushered Victor outside so that she could rebandage his back. He sat down on the mat and let her finish her doctoring. She looked at him, saw that he was getting a bit pale and ordered him to lay down and rest. Victor didn't think he would do anything other than just stare up at her working, but between the rescue of the boy, the recovery of the bucket and the fixit of the pump, he was soon fast asleep. 

He woke from his nap mid-afternoon. Teresa offered soup for him to eat that she had fixed for Miguel and herself a little earlier. He took it gratefully and downed it rather quickly. He was hungry. She offered a second bowl and he took it. He ate the second bowl a little bit slower and chatted with Miguel who was seated next to him. Teresa went about with her chores. 

She could see her son was enamored with the stranger. She hoped her son wouldn't get too attached as she knows he won't stay forever. He has a life somewhere else, and sooner or later it will catch up with him. 

As evening fell, they ended up eating dinner inside the house. Victor's back was drying stiff and sitting on the ground was tiring him. So they decided to eat at the table. "Do you remember anything of what you used to do? Do you remember where you live? Have you thought about your name? What about a last name? Do you remember anything about the army that wears blue uniforms? Do you….?"

"Enough Miguel," yelled his mother. "When Victor remembers things, I am sure he will tell you, if he wants to."

Miguel blushed, "I'm sorry Victor."

Victor said, "That's ok, Miguel, I want to know the answers to those questions too."

Now it was Victor's turn to ask the questions. But it was when he asked, "Who's Jorge?" that brought an uneasy quiet to the table. After a pause Teresa began, "Jorge pretends to be a rebel. He is just a murdering coward and thief. He takes advantage of the war to steal then sell for profit. He riles up men, then sends them to do his dirty work in the name of the rebellion, but you never see him do what he asks of his men. He takes what he pleases." Then she looked down at the table, studying her hands. Victor knew what that look meant. He glanced over at Miguel and he could see hatred seething in his eyes. 

"Where is this Jorge now?" Victor asked.

Miguel didn't like where the topic was heading. He was afraid that if the stranger figured out the real reason why he brought him to his house, he would leave before getting rid of Jorge. He needed Victor to fight him off. He must stay. Before Teresa could answer, Miguel blurted out, "Who knows, maybe he was killed by the government troops. I hope so." Teresa snapped, "MIGUEL!" But said no more, as she too felt the same way. 

"It's getting late." She said. "It was a long day and I think Victor should get some sleep". 

Sensing that Jorge was a difficult topic, not to mention that he really was tired, Victor dropped it and agreed to the bedtime suggestion. 

Miguel lay awake listening to the man next to him. He was getting worried as Victor was having a fitful sleep. He didn't know if it was because he was sore from his wounds or if he was fighting an emerging memory or if it was a nightmare from his ordeal. Whatever the cause, it bothered Miguel. At about 4:00 AM, Victor sat up but seemed unresponsive to Miguel's queries. Miguel touched the man on the shoulder, then with alarm rising, placed his hand on the man's forehead. Miguel knew a fever when he felt it. He went over to his mother's bed and shook her awake. "What is it, Miguel?" she asked sleepily.

"Victor, he has a fever." Miguel said anxiously.

Teresa quickly got up and went over to Victor. She knelt down in front of him. It took a while for his eyes to focus on her. She put her hand to his forehead and grimaced at how warm he felt. "Victor, are you ok?" He was reacting sluggishly, but clearly. "I'm ok," he said. "Just a little warm. I may have over done the activity yesterday, that's all."

After a sip of cold water, Victor lay back down and fell asleep. Miguel did as well, but Teresa was getting worried. She lay on her bed for a while then got up and made herself something hot to drink. She sat at the table just staring at the injured man. Periodically he would get restless, but always seemed to calm right back down. She could see a sheen of perspiration forming on his face. She didn't like that, it was a sign of infection. She will need to go over all his wounds to find which one was causing him the problem. 

By 7:00 AM everyone was up. Victor sat at the table drinking a hot tea. He wasn't looking that good. She served breakfast, which he just picked at. Miguel also picked at his breakfast because he was worried for his new friend. As Teresa was watching Victor pick at his food, she noticed that his left hand was slightly swollen. Actually, more than slightly. She got up and went around the table to sit beside him on his left. She rolled up his left sleeve and did not like what she saw. Even though the deep wound of his forearm was wrapped, the arm was swelling around it. She unwrapped the bandage and knew immediately that the arm was infected. She was afraid gangrene was setting in. She looked up at Victor who was studying his own arm.

"Gee, that doesn't look very good, does it?" He said almost dreamily. "I think maybe I should see a doctor for this one."

"The closest doctor, if he is still there, is at Esperanza Nueva, several kilometers from here. With you riding the burro it would take almost a day and 1/2 in this country. You definitely won't be able to walk. I don't think you can make it." Teresa said nervously. 

Victor asked, "Is there anyone close by with an auto?"

Teresa just shook her head 'no'.

"Well, that puts us in a bit of a sticky wicket." Victor said. Teresa and Miguel just looked at him puzzled, both thinking that he was getting delirious. He saw their puzzlement, "My British friends say that. Hmmm, I did just remember that I have friends in Britain, but can't recall anything other than that. Anyway," looking at Teresa, "looks like you are going to have to do some more doctoring and some cauterizing." 

"Cauterizing?" Teresa asked, "What is that?"

"That is where you seal and sterilize a wound with a hot object, like that fireplace poker over there." He nodded towards the fireplace utensils.

Teresa leapt out of her seat, "WHAT?! Senor Victor, I cannot do that. I don't know how to do that. I can't possibly do that. We must think of another way to take care of your arm."

Victor argued, "You just said that it will take over a day and 1/2 to get to the doctors. Even longer to bring him here. You also said that you don't think I could make it. Well if we don't tend to my arm, I could very well die from gangrene or septicemia. I can't do it, I will pass out. Do you want Miguel to do it?"

Miguel looked horrified at the thought. But he knew the importance of the situation, and he looked at Victor and said bravely, "I will do it for you."

Teresa stepped up to the challenge, "No Miguel, I could not ask you to do that. I will do it, but you must tell me, Victor, exactly what to do."

Victor studied his forearm. "First, put the poker into the fire to get hot. While that is heating, you will need to open up the wound and drain the infection." He touched the white center of the wound. I can't feel anything here, so that shouldn't be a problem. After that, you will need to clean it as much as possible with hot soapy water then the alcohol. When that is all done, lay the poker across the wound at this angle." He demonstrated the location using his right hand. "Just keep it there for 10 seconds, that's all there is to it. Pour cold water on it as soon as you are done. No alcohol at this point. Do you have a stick or something I could bite on?"

Teresa remembered the cloth she used 2 days ago when he was shivering so badly and fetched it. 

They sat around in an uncomfortable silence waiting for the poker to get hot. They didn't want to start until the poker was ready. "That should do. The poker should be hot enough now." Victor finally said and he laid his arm out on the table. 

Teresa's heartbeat was elevated as she started. She took the small knife that she had used to remove the shrapnel days before. Since she was going to cauterize the wound later, Victor said she didn't need to sterile that too. He didn't feel the cut, but when she needed to remove the infection, he felt that and broke out in a sweat. She was being too delicate while trying to clean with the soap and water and although he was about to fall off the chair from the pain, told her she needed to be more aggressive. Otherwise she would seal the bacteria inside the wound. When she poured the alcohol into the now very raw wound, Victor, who already had clenched the towel with his hand, bit down on it with his teeth. 

She sat back with that done and took a breather before she removed the hot poker. Victor also relaxed and took a deep breath. Her hands were shaking slightly. She looked at Victor who was sitting there calmly, a sheen of sweat covering his face. "I can't." She suddenly said. "I can't do it!" 

Victor reached towards her, asking for the poker. "I'll do it, just catch it before it burns anything else." She hesitated, then pulled the poker back towards her. "Are you sure there isn't something else we can do?" she pleaded.

Saying with just a hint of agitation, Victor said, "Nothing, now let's get this over with. The longer we hesitate, the worse it will be."

She looked to Miguel and nodded. Miguel went over and stood behind Victor with his hands on Victor's shoulders. Teresa poised the poker over his arm. Victor placed the cloth in his mouth. 

Four days after the church rescue, Jeff stood at a podium in a church in front of a standing room only crowd.   
  
Since there was no body, there was no coffin. So a large portrait of Virgil sat on the altar in front of the cathedral. Even though they lived in seclusion, the Tracys were still well known and liked. From Tracy Industry employees, to army buddies, WASP, race, and NASA friends of the family, to of course artsy friends of Virgil's, they all showed up to pay their last respects. No one knew that they were at the funeral of an International Rescue hero (except of course, those in the inner circle of IR). The usually stoic Penny had lost all her eye makeup to tears. Parker comforted her like an old friend instead of an employee. She freely cried on his shoulder. Kyrano held his daughter's hands while several very dear Kansas friends of Grandma sat with and supported her. The Tracy brothers were all stone faced and quiet. They looked upon their father with the red swollen eyes and waited for the eulogy.  
  
Jeff referred to the dates under Virgil's portrait from the beginning...to the end. He noted that first came   
his date of birth then spoke the last date with tears, but he said …   
  
"What mattered most of all was the dash between those years. For that dash represents all the time that he spent alive on earth... Now only those who loved him know what that little line is worth. For it matters not, how much we own: the cars...the house...the cash,.... what matters is how we live and love, and how we spend our dash. So think about this long and hard...   
  
Virgil's dash is worth more than anyone can fathom. He gave so much of himself. He will be missed for his compassion, his wisdom, his music and art." Jeff hesitated here. He had been arguing with himself since he started writing the eulogy, should he or should he not mention all the wonderful work he did as a member of International Rescue.

  
"Remember this special dash might only last a little while. So, when your eulogy's being read with your life's actions to rehash...Would you be proud of the things they say about how you spent your dash?"* "I know I am most proud of what his rather short but generous dash entailed." Jeff concluded without mention of International Rescue.  
  
  
Those who knew Virgil knew how he lived his dash. There was a heavy silence over the entire church. Periodically, you would hear a soft sob. One by one, the brothers got up and gave a small speech, as did Penny. None could compare to Jeff's oration. But they all had a common thread, their love for Virgil and the great heartache that sat like a stone in their chest.   
  
  
  
They solemnly left the church.   
  
  
  
  
*Note: THE DASH which is intermingled with my words is not mine. I would love to give credit to the author, but he is unknown.   
  



	12. visit to a town

Victor clenched his teeth, as the cloth muffled a groan coming from deep within him. His eyes rolled back, and he fell into the waiting arms of Miguel. Teresa was concentrating on what she was doing; holding the poker and counting to ten. The sound and smell got to her and she quickly tossed the poker back into the fire when done. She ladled cold water over the now cauterized wound and wrapped it in fresh clean cloths. Miguel was supporting Victor, but didn't have to work hard as the table and chairs held most of his weight. Teresa then dipped another cloth into the cold water, wrung it out and blotted Victor's forehead.

"Should we try to get him to the bed?" Miguel asked.

"No, let him slump forward onto the table to rest." Teresa answered.

Victor woke several hours later on his bed. Since he was sleeping for longer than expected, Teresa and Miguel ended up moving him back onto his bed by the fireplace. His arm throbbed something fierce. Teresa had placed it in a sling for him. He looked around for either Miguel or Teresa but no one was inside. So he got up, grabbed the hoe handle with his good arm and hobbled outside. He thought to himself, 'Good thing my bad arm isn't on the same side as my bad knee.' He wondered what the heck he had been doing several days ago to get into such bad shape. Having no memory of the past is horrible. It is such an empty feeling. He doesn't know if he himself was a murdering thief like Jorge or a rebel, or what. He is sure he is American, but what was he doing down here in Cumaguay? Is he running from the law in the U.S.? Is he a mercenary? And what of that strange blue uniform. What self-respecting soldier wears a bright blue uniform?! Who the hell was he?

After he helped lay Victor back down on the floor, Miguel took his mother outside and breached the topic of keeping him here. Even though they had both been thinking of it, neither had spoken to the other about it. So he was surprised when she agreed with him. Her biggest fear at the moment, more than Jorge returning, was that the men in blue would come looking for him. From what he told her, she had no doubt that the men in blue, if they were to start searching for their missing comrade, would find him quickly. Miguel said, "I will ride to the village and see if anyone is left there at all. If so, I can ask about those men in blue. Try to find out who they are." 

Teresa said, "That is a good idea. I will take care of Victor if he asks where you are."

Miguel got on the burro and left. His pace today was much faster than a few days earlier when he was enjoying the cool of the forest early in the morning. He was on an important mission today. He reached the village in less than 2 hrs. He tied the burro up and started walking around the deserted town. He was interested in finding anyone at all. The emptiness of the place gave him the creeps. He went over to the church and looked around for anything that might tell him something. He went around to the side of the church to where the big machine holding up the church wall had been situated. He thinks Victor was here. He went past that towards the ravine and looked down. Other than it looked like some people had gone down there recently, there was nothing there to tell him anything. He walked back around to the front of the church and there was a very elderly lady approaching the church. "Buenos dias, Senora." He called. She looked at him and smiled, "Buenos dias, muchacho. _What brings you here?_"she asked in Spanish. He answered, "_I was up on the hill over there a few days ago and watched the rescue of the children from this church. But that was all I could see. I was curious to who the blue soldiers were and what happened after the attack. I ran when the mortars started." _

She obvious missed company for she asked Miguel to sit down on the church steps with her. "_Come young man, sit with me. I was going to talk to God, but it will be nice to have a person to talk to too. What is your name?_" He sat down on the step with her and answered her. "Miguel."

"_I don't know much, but I know they are an American rescue organization. They were able to save all those children. They even transported them all to_ _Esperanza Nueva. It is so sad that one of them died. I saw their faces when __El Capitan__ told them the news. I thought they were going to break down right there. So sad. They come all this way to save our children only to lose one of their own._"

Miguel intrigued asked, "_How did he die?_"

"_The rebels got him. Our soldiers captured one of them and he had the American's gun with him. He told them they had killed him. Of course the rebel died before he would tell them where the body was. So the Americans cannot bring him back home to bury his body. So sad._" She said shaking her head. 

'Could his luck be so good? The Americans think their compadre is dead? That means that no one will come looking for him. And if he doesn't remember anything, maybe he will stay with him and his mother permanently!' Miguel thought excitedly. "_Do you know anything about that American rescue group?_ he asked. 

She shook her head no. Then her face lit up "_Oh there is one more thing. The big green craft that landed here the other day had the word THUNDERBIRD 2 on the side._" 

Miguel thought to himself, he heard that word or name before, but couldn't place it. It doesn't matter, no one was looking for Victor and that is what was important. He bid farewell to the elderly lady and headed home.

When Victor got outside, the sun told him it was early afternoon. He found Teresa milking the goat. Miguel was no where to be found. "Hi" he said. Teresa looked around, "Oh and hello to you, how are you feeling?"

"My arm aches like the dickens, but I am not feverish. I think it worked." Then holding up his slinged arm, "Thanks for this. By the way, where is Miguel?"

"He went off to the village to see if there are any more soldiers in blue uniforms there. Maybe we can find where you belong." She lied. She and Miguel had discussed the possibility of Victor getting rid of Jorge for good, while he was unconscious. They both knew it was trickery, but they were desperate. They will both end up dying at the hands of Jorge Sanches if they don't get his help. 

"So when is this Jorge fella coming back?" Victor asked bluntly. Teresa who had turned backed to finish her milking chore just froze. She didn't know what to say. She waited a moment longer to compose herself and she turned and faced Victor. Although she didn't think it showed, he saw her eyes glistening with moisture. "He's that bad, huh?" She just nodded yes. 'Dios, he was astute' she thought. 

"Do you want me to get rid of him for you?" he asked. Her mouth just dropped open. Here, she had been planning on deceiving him in order to get him to stay and he is offering to get rid of him. "Uh, uh, I cannot ask you to do that, Senor. It is not your problem." She couldn't believe she just said that. After all that she and Miguel were trying to do to get him to stay and she just blurts out that! 

Victor said, "If it weren't for you and Miguel, I won't be here to make the offer. It is the least I can do to repay you for my life."

"You would kill Jorge?" she asked unbelievably.

"KILL?!" Victor said. "Oh no, not kill. I don't think I can do that. But I could probably put enough fear in him to scare him away for good."

She looked down and thought ' I don't think you could scare this man. He is a monster.' Her heart sinking at the prospect that he only meant to scare Jorge away. First he doesn't scare easily, second even if he did, how long would he stay away? Victor isn't going to stay forever, he will eventually want to go and find his real life. Once Jorge finds out that the stranger that chased him away is gone, he would return. And it will not be a pleasant reunion.

Miguel reached home and saw Victor speaking with his mother over by the barn. He tried not to be smiling from ear to ear because he was supposed to be returning with bad news for Victor, not good news for his mother. He couldn't tell him the truth because he will try to go looking for the men in blue. He will simply say that he could find no information on them. He stopped for a moment, took a deep breath, thought of something sad, then proceeded into the clearing heading towards Victor and his mother. As he approached, he saw his mother's jaw drop and a look of shock on her face. He hurried forward not knowing what Victor just said to her. He prayed that he didn't say he was leaving. He got close enough to hear Victor say, "Kill? Oh no not kill. I don't think…………"

Miguel asked, "What's going on?"

Teresa blurted out, "Victor has offered to stay and help chase Jorge away." Miguel didn't know whether to be happy or what. To have him stay was fantastic, but he heard 'not kill' and 'chase him away'. He knew that Jorge would never leave for good. He needed to die. Before Miguel could voice anything, objection or jubilation, Teresa asked, "What did you find out in the village?"

Miguel did give the canned answer that he had been practicing. "The village is almost completely deserted. The few people I did see, knew nothing of the men in blue. They also said that the soldiers were most probably not returning either. I'm sorry Senor Victor."

When Teresa had finished milking, Victor asked, "Is there anything I can do around here to help?"

"What you can do is sit down and rest" demanded Teresa. If you are going to help with Jorge, then you must get your strength back. You cannot fight a man with one good leg and one good arm. So, SIT!"

Victor did as he was told and sat in a old tree-branch chair next to the side of the house in the sun. He watched as mother and son went about their daily chores around their small house. They are pretty much self contained. They don't have electricity or anything of the appliances that go with it. They don't have hot water unless they heat it over the fire. But they seem very content in their life, other than Jorge that is. Victor started to think about this dangerous man and what he should do. The first thought that entered his mind was, 'will there be anyone else'. He called over to Teresa and asked.

"Yes, there could be. The most he has ever had with him was four other men. He knows our small house cannot fit any more than that."

Victor went into deep thought. He should plan something to handle at least four men. If only one shows, fine, but if he planned for only one and five show, then that would be a problem. He sat there for a while, a deep crease formed in his brow. Teresa was watching him from the corner of her eye, wondering what he was up to. He suddenly got up and hobbled into the house. He spent a few minutes in there and came back out and sat down once again going into deep thought. After a few more minutes, he went to the pole barn and looked at the poles that supported the roof. Leaning heavily on the makeshift staff/crutch, he kicked at the base of the pole to see if it was embedded in the ground. It moved 1/2 inch easily. That was exactly what he wanted to see. He went to the back wall of the barn near the hay-racks and studied where the wall met the dirt floor. He then hobbled around back behind the barn. After spending a few minutes there, he hobbled back to the chair. Once again he sat down and went into deep thought. After a few more minutes he got up and went into the house, spent a few minutes in there then came back out again. He sat down, put his head back against the house and took in the warmth of the sun. This time, no deep furrows lined his face.

Teresa and Miguel have been watching this man with interest as he would get up, roam around, sit back down, only to do it over again. They couldn't help but wonder what he was up to. They could only pray that it was enough.

For the evening meal, again they ate inside to make it easier on Victor. Getting up and sitting down on the ground was difficult with a bad knee and arm. After the meal, when Teresa asked Miguel to start the fire inside the house, Victor asked Miguel to shovel out the fireplace ash first and set it aside. He will need it later. After Miguel finished gathering the ash then starting the fire, he sat back down at the table to discuss what Victor had in mind. He asked Teresa, "Would you mind if a make a small hole in the back of the barn?" Puzzled, she said "no". He continued, "Ok, first thing tomorrow Miguel, with your help, I would like to chop a hole in the barn. Also, I will need a lot of rocks, do you have more than one bucket?"

Teresa said, "Yes, a few but they cannot hold water anymore, they have holes in them."

Victor said, "That's fine, it won't hold water. Bottles like that…" he nodded towards an old glass wine bottle, "how many of those do you have?"

"I don't know, but a few" she answered.

"Does the bellows work? Any holes or cracks in it?"

"No, it is fine" she answered. She and Miguel looked at each other. The more questions Victor asked, the more intrigued they became. Then he said, "Ok, here is my plan…"


	13. The plan

Jorge had had enough. He was hungry, dirty, and defeated. He couldn't wait to get home and cleaned up. Some good food and a good woman to satisfy him was all he wanted right now. He hoped that little snot-nosed brat was gone. His woman gives much too much attention to him. Maybe he will kick him out of the house when he returns. Teresa will be upset for a while, but he can handle her. He should be there within a few days if they find an alternate means of transportation. 

Early the next morning just before the sun rose, Teresa was busy making breakfast. She knew that they were all going to be busy today. Just after breakfast, as the sun was peeking through the window, Victor got up to go outside and start work. "Wait just a minute, Victor," said Teresa. He turned to look at her. She continued, "I don't want you collapsing because your wounds are infected and you get sick again. Sit. I want to check you over first."

He obediently sat on a stool nearby. He removed his shirt and she started to unwrap the bandages. The smaller cuts on his front were healing nicely. She was still concerned about the grotesquely colored bruise over his ribs. As she leaned in low and close to study the cuts and bruises, he got a whiff of her freshly cleaned hair. The sun was catching it just right. The waves in her true-black hair shone with a blue tint to it. It was thick and beautiful and draped tantalizingly around her shoulders. He hadn't noticed before that she was an attractive woman but he was starting to now. She was older than he was he thought, but that didn't decrease her attractiveness. 

She slowly peeled away the large cloth on his back. It still stuck to some of the larger wounds and he winced as each one got unstuck. "They look good Victor. I will just clean the bandage and put it back on. You can work without a shirt on for a while. Now, take your pants off." He sat straight up with that command. He was still not comfortable doing that especially since he was feeling just a bit aroused. 

"Come on. Just stand up and pull them down so that I can check the wounds to your seat and legs." He stood slowly, procrastinating at undoing the tie that held up his pants. "Victor, we have been through this already. Please, let me check your wounds and get this over with." He obediently dropped his pants, his back already to her. She knelt down to examine the wounds on the lower part of his body in the back. He was grateful that he did not have any severe wounds on the front below the belt. He was enjoying, but at the same time, not enjoying her touch on his backside. Since she needed to examine more closely that one bad wound on his upper leg, when she squatted down she grabbed his good leg very high up and in between, for balance. His eyes flew wide open and he just about fell over. "Victor, I want to put more alcohol on these two wounds, would you please go lay down on the bed over there?" she said pointing to her bed. He hopped over to the bed, pants around his ankles and just fell forward onto it. His makeshift crutch was still by the table, and he was not able to put weight on his knee yet. She placed her hand softly on his back, bent over and whispered, "I'm sorry Victor, this will hurt, but I am afraid that if I don't, it will become infected like your arm did." He enjoyed the soft touch of her hand, but in order to keep his body from reacting he had to focus on what was just about to happen… pain. "Go ahead. Let's get this over with so that I can get started with my work." As she poured the alcohol, he grabbed the bed linen with his good hand, but said nothing. 

After the ordeal, he quickly pulled his pants back on and hobbled outside. Teresa, smiling at his shyness, went to clean the cloth that would cover the wounds on his back.

Victor shivered slightly at the chill still in the air. It was going to be a warm day eventually. And once he started physical labor, he would warm up. But for now, his naked top rebelled at the cold. He met up with Miguel behind the barn. He had the ax in hand already. "Where do you want me to put the hole and how big?" he asked. Victor answered, "How about here" he said pointing to a spot not quite centered and along the ground. "And about this big" he said as he gestured a size about twice that of a basketball. "Can you fit quickly through a hole that big?" he asked Miguel.

"I will test it. If not, we can make it bigger or we could dig a bit of the ground away if we don't want too much of the hole to show." Miguel offered.

As Miguel was creating a 'back door' to the barn, Victor took a length of rope around to the front and tied it around the corner support beam at the base and covered it with dirt. He then wrapped it around the middle support once and placed the excess rope near the area where Miguel was chopping from the other side. He covered that with dirt as well. He then went looking for the extra buckets that no longer could hold water. He found one, but then when he tried to pick it up and carry it back to behind the barn, he found that his sore arm couldn't carry the weight, and his good arm was too busy supporting the rest of him. "Oh heck," he said aloud to no one, and he stuck the worn wood and wire handle in his mouth and hobbled back to behind the barn. 

On his hobble back to the barn he noticed a child's beaten up old red wagon. He decided that would be handier than his mouth, so he went looking for the leather that he had used as a harness when he rescued Miguel. When he found it he fashioned it around his waist with a long enough piece left to tie onto the handle of the wagon. Thus, where ever he went the wagon did too. He could accomplish a lot more work this way considering his condition. His first chore was to go to the firepit where he was first brought to thaw out and fill it up with the excess rocks he found, the rocks used to warm him up when he was so severely chilled. With the wagon filled sufficiently enough for his purpose he hobbled back to where he left the bucket behind the barn. By the time he reached that spot, Miguel had chopped a good size hole in the back wall and was testing out the size. 

Miguel found he could quickly slither through the hole he made. When he showed Victor, Victor told him to grab the rope that he left just inside, "BUT GENTLY!" so that they could set up the trap. He motioned for Miguel to climb the tree located behind the barn. When he was up on the sturdy branch about 12 feet off the ground, Victor handed him the end of the rope. Then he handed him the bucket with just a few rocks in it so that it wasn't too heavy, then one by one, added a few more rocks. Miguel tied the rope to the handle with a little extra length for 'someone' to pull it from the ground. Both Miguel and Victor noticed that it would cause the bucket to tip over, spilling the rocks. That was not what they wanted. They needed to have the bucket fall bottom first so that it held all of the rocks. Victor went into the house and grabbed a utility knife and came back out to the barn. He gave Miguel the knife and told him to punch a hole in the bottom of the bucket large enough for the rope to fit through. He then had Miguel tie a knot in the rope at the precise location so that when the rope was fed through the hole, the knot would hit the hole with no slack left to the handle. Now when the person below pulled on the rope, the bottom of the bucket would take the lead off the branch fork. 

With the trap set up, Miguel jumped out of the tree. Victor looked around. He turned to Miguel, "do you know where we could find a boulder to block that hole you made?" Miguel, looking at the size of the hole said, "Down by the stream but that is a long way to bring such a big boulder." Victor smiled, "Not if we used this handy-dandy little red wagon and the burro." Miguel gave Victor an adoring smile. Victor was so smart, he hoped that he would stay with them forever. He grabbed the burro and headed towards the stream. Victor before following along, grabbed the burro's blanket, rope, and a short plank that was lying around and plunked it into the wagon before he hobbled on. The path to the river was very rough and Virgil had a difficult time with his still bad leg and arm. When Miguel got to the river, he turned to look for Victor and saw him struggling a ways up the path. He left the burro and quickly reached the struggling man. He untied the wagon and bullied the rest of the way to the water's edge. 

At the stream they didn't need to go far to find what they were looking for. Miguel brought the wagon over and Victor positioned the plank on the wagon leading down to the boulder. Victor and Miguel got down next to the boulder and with both of them pushing, rolled the boulder up into the wagon. Victor threw the plank into the wagon next to the boulder while Miguel set up the burro to pull the now loaded wagon. Although balking at first, the burro put his weight into the rigged harness and pulled the wagon back to the barn. 

Victor set up a makeshift table from some rocks and logs topped with a flat piece of wood on top for the boulder to sit on. He maneuvered the boulder so that it was precariously balanced on edge of the wood so that the whole piece of wood would tip over at the least bit of pressure sending the boulder over. He placed the plank in front of the boulder where the slope faced the newly made opening of the barn. He asked Miguel to place a small stone behind the boulder so that it remained delicately balanced. Miguel took note that the 'rock table' was strategically placed under the bucket of rocks and smiled at Victor's cleverness. 

The next chore had Miguel shoveling all the pig and goat manure into the middle of the pasture and spreading it about evenly. While he was doing that, Victor eyeballed the length of the feed trough in the pasture and the distance between the well and the pasture. He could see the trough was too short. He needed at least two of them. He went to Miguel and asked if there was another trough. Miguel just shook his head no. Oh well, that just meant that they would have to carry the water a little further. Victor knocked off the two ends of the trough, stuck the one end in the center of the paddock where Miguel was working and propped the other end up on the fence. Remembering that the pump inside the house was recently fixed, Victor asked if they had a hose or tube or something similar. Again, Miguel shook his head no. So it will be water from the well that will have to do.

If Victor was going to haul water up from the well he was going to need to put a crank handle on the log he fashioned earlier in the week. He quickly got some scrap wood and nails and created a handle. Wrapping the end of the rope around the log and nailing the end, he was able to use the handle to draw up water from the well. He would place the bucket in the wagon and hobble over to the trough. He would pour the bucket of water down the trough so that it soaked the manure, then hobble back to the well. It was going to take better part of the day to get this part done.

When Miguel had finished working the manure and dirt in the pasture he got out to help Victor. He said, "Why don't we put the rain barrel on the wagon. Fill it up with water, then pull that over to the paddock and scoop it out?" Victor thought for a second and gave Miguel a pat on the shoulder, "That is an excellent idea."

After pouring several rain barrels full of water into the pasture, Miguel took some old straw and hay and lightly layered it over the thick muck to conceal it and prevent it from drying too fast. It should take a couple of days to dry up too much to be worth much good. So if Jorge stays away too long they will have to rewet the trap. Looking up into the sky Victor thought to himself that it must be early afternoon already. Both he and Miguel had worked very hard all morning. When they had stopped to take a breather from their work, Teresa came outside with food and drink. She also had the clean dry cloth ready to put back on Victor. 

They both sat down, Miguel on the ground and Victor in a chair. Since he had been working hard, he was sweaty and dirty, so Teresa started to gently clean off his back. As she dabbed gingerly around his back with the warm water laden sponge, he could feel trickles of it run down his back. It was not an unpleasant feeling. 

Miguel was not oblivious when it came to the two adults. Without them knowing, he was watching them carefully. He smiled to himself as he saw what was taking shape between them. He knew what was happening long before they would. What was obvious to him was not to the participants. He smiled to himself because it was looking better and better that Victor would probably be staying.

"Teresa, in this heat the bandage will be too hot for my back. Why don't we leave it off until we finish our work." Victor said.

Worried, Teresa complained, "But your back will get dirty and sweaty again." 

Looking at the sponge she was holding in her hand he said softly, "would that be a bad thing?"

For the first time in a long time, longer than she could remember, she blushed deeply. She felt a warmth build inside her and flow up the back of her neck. She put the sponge back into the pan of water, picked it up and just before she turned and left, she said, "I can always clean your back off this evening when you are finished your work."

Victor and Miguel nibbled on bean and vegetable burritos and rested. They still had a lot to do.


	14. Setting the traps

Victor looked up and noted that it was somewhere around 3 in the afternoon. "We'd better get back to work Miguel. No telling when Jorge will return." As Victor stood up he felt stiff. His body wasn't used to all this work after several days off. He stretched before hobbling off. He slowly walked around the parameter of the homestead making mental notes of where someone would run once things started to happen. He picked an area behind the paddock, which stood between but a little behind the house and barn. There was a lot of brush here, easy to hide a trap. He turned and called to Miguel to come over with a shovel. He explained to Miguel what he wanted. "Are we going to put spikes in the bottom?" Miguel asked. 

"Huh! Why, what for?" Victor asked shocked. 

"To kill those men. They are bad men." He answered truthfully.

"No, Miguel. We want to discourage them from returning, maybe hurt them, but I won't kill unless I absolutely have to. We will put a few short thick branches down there and hope they sprain an ankle and put them out of commission. This will probably take you the rest of the day if not part of tomorrow. I will have to handle the other traps by myself. Think you can handle it?"

Miguel nodded yes. It was a big project, but he could do it.

Victor went around to the front of the barn and found a large gunnysack, which probably held grain for the animals at one time. He grabbed with his sore arm, and instantly regretted the speed with which he did it. The sack wasn't heavy so once the pain subsided, he was able to carry it to the fireplace to grab several more rocks. Not too many, just enough to pack a good wallop. This time, he held onto the bag with the same hand that he uses to hold the crutch. It made walking even more difficult as the bag swung around with each stride and periodically hit either the crutch or his bad knee. Thankfully the barn wasn't that far. At the barn he dropped the sack, sat down in the straw and started stuffing the bag with the straw. He was careful to move the rocks into the middle of the now straw loaded sack. With a small length of baling twin he tied the sack closed. After he finished, Victor sat for a while. He was quickly running out of steam. His body although used to a lot of hard work, was still suffering from the damage he did to it with the hypothermia, dehydration, starvation and injuries. As tired as he was, he still felt driven to complete as much as possible. Jorge could come back within the hour or within a week. He was too unpredictable. Victor did not have the luxury of time. He could rest all he needed once all the traps were set. He took a deep breath and using his crutch, got back up. He grabbed the sack by the neck with his bad arm, because it was too full to try to carry with his good arm holding the crutch. As he took a step forward trying to drag the sack, pain seared up his arm. He held the tension, gritted his teeth and waited for the pain to come down to a manageable level. When it reached a level he could endure, he continued on. He dragged the bag to path that Jorge most likely would return by. He went fairly far down the path before picking a good spot. The path was narrow and dark due to the thick brush. He set down the bag and when he realized he didn't have rope with him cussed. He was getting tired and starting to make mistakes. Now he had to make another energy sapping trip. He took a deep breath and headed back to the barn for another length of rope, leaving the sack behind. 

Teresa was busy doing many of the chores normally saved for Miguel. At this time, she was cutting more firewood as the pile had been severely diminished over the past few days. She was in back of the house and could see her son digging. He was working so hard. She was so proud of him. He was a man before he was supposed to be. She could tell from where she worked that he was making a lot of progress. The hole was getting deep quickly. She continued chopping the logs with the ax. It was a chore that she had done plenty of times before. She could wield the heavy ax with ease. Both Teresa and Miguel dropped their tools instantaneously when they heard a scream of pain coming from the front of the house.

Victor heading towards the barn took a misstep about halfway there and fell hard on his bad knee. The shock of pain forced him over to his left side and he landed on his bad arm. As a reflex, he rolled off his bad arm onto his unprotected back. A stream of curses flowed from him as he rolled onto his right side. For most of the past several days he had been quite stoic, but this happened so suddenly, that he couldn't hold it in. He lay on his right side, just willing the pain to cease.

Miguel was the first to reach him but his mother was right on his heals. As Teresa approached she saw with dismay that she should have insisted earlier that Victor get his bandage and shirt back on. She cursed to herself for giving into a moment of weakness at the thought of giving him another sponging later in the evening instead of insisting he needed to protect his back. Now she could see his sticky sweat-covered back had a thick layer of dirt on it and crimson marks were showing through where the worst of he wounds were.

"Victor, you have hurt yourself!" Teresa exclaimed a little too much anger showing.

Not knowing what to say, he just grunted, "yes" through clenched teeth.

"You have had enough for the day. Let's get you back into the house and on your bed." Teresa ordered.

"No, no! Just let me lay here for a moment. Let me catch my breath. I'll be ok. I just need to rest a moment." He said.

Now Teresa was showing her stubborn side. "Listen Victor Whoever-you-are, as long as you are a guest of my house, you will do as I say. And I am telling you that you have had enough and need to go inside to rest. The sun is almost gone anyway. What more can you accomplish today?"

"Ok, ok. But I still need to rest here a minute before I attempt to get up."

As Victor was lying there, Miguel went over to pick up the hoe handle and found that it was broken. He looked back at Victor who had his back to him and he knew that he would not be able to maneuver without some assistance. He ran around back and grabbed the ax and disappeared into the woods before it got too dark to see. Victor and Teresa had no idea what he was doing or where he had gone. In fact Victor hadn't even see the broken handle.

Miguel came back about 15 minutes later with a thick sturdy branch, cut to Victor's size that had an almost perfect fork at one end to fit perfectly under his arm. With his pain subsiding a little Victor was able to give Miguel a large grateful smile. He took the new crutch firmly in his right hand, planted it in the ground and hoisted himself back into a standing position. 

  
"This is perfect, Miguel, much easier to use than the handle. It at least frees up my hand since I can hold onto it with my arm." Victor said. Then he turned and headed back to the barn.

"And where do you think you are going?" Teresa demanded hands planted firmly on her hips.

"I'm just giving it a test drive."

"Not to the barn, you're not. Into the house."

"Teresa, I am fine, really. The daylight is almost gone. Let me finish this one last trap. I will be at the house immediately afterwards." Victor pleaded.

Teresa saw no point in arguing. "I will be waiting to clean your back off and take a look at your arm and knee, so be quick about it."

Victor picked out another length of rope and headed to the almost dark path where he left the sack. He threw the rope over a strong branch about 20 feet up. When the end came back down, he tied it to the sack leaving extra rope for him to work with. He then sat down just below the branch. By sitting down he would be able to pull the sack up with his good arm, then use his good foot to keep the sack in place as he gathered up more rope with his arm for another pull. It was an awkward way to pull the sack up, but he had no other choice. When the sack was 4 feet off the ground, he tied the rope around the base of the tree and covered it up best he could. He got up and grabbed the extra length he gave himself that was attached to the now free-swinging sack. He threw that over a branch of another tree. He pulled the sack up onto the branch, took the extra rope and looped it back over the branch then down behind a tree trunk to keep it hidden from immediate view. He fed the end under an exposed root, crossed the path a couple of inches off the ground and tied it to the trunk of a tree on the other side. He had just enough tension on it so that the slightest pressure should trigger the trap. He built up a twig and brush tent over the elevated rope just enough to hide it but hopefully not enough so that Jorge and his friends would step over it. He tested the tension and watched the sack wiggle. It looked well hidden, but then, it was very dark now. He would need to come back in the morning to see how readily it stands out in the daylight. 

His energy now spent, he slowly hobbled back to the house. Teresa already had dinner on the table and Miguel had stopped digging to come in and eat. Victor thought that Teresa was going to tend to his wounds first, but the with aroma of dinner floating in the air he found he was starving. He sat down and waited for her. He looked to Miguel who was wolfing down his food and gave him a questioning glance.

"I am going back out to dig some more when I finish." Miguel offered.

"But it's dark out there." Victor said.

"I will use a lantern." He replied. He took a few more gulps of dinner then left even before Teresa sat down. Grabbing the lantern as he exited the house, a sly smile crept across his face. Getting the hole dug was only one of the reasons he left. This gave Victor and Teresa time alone together. 

There was an awkward silence for a while at dinner. She couldn't ask him what he did for a living or anything at all about his past for that matter. He was afraid to broach the subject of her husband or Jorge. He didn't want to pry where he wasn't suppose to. They talked mainly about what was accomplished today, praising Miguel and trying to guess when Jorge would indeed return. 

After dinner, she told him to lie down on his bed face down so that she could clean the mess he made of his back today. She softly brushed the loose dirt away with her hand, then gently she started to sponge him. The warm water trickled down his spine and pooled in the small of his back. Other rivulets tickled as they ran down his ribs onto the floor. Victor wanted to tell her that it felt good, but kept his silence. Only periodically did it sting when she hit the worst of the wounds. He had his eyes closed. His body ached all over and this helped relaxed his complaining muscles. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but there was something exceptionally soothing about this.

She could feel his body relax under the gentle swabbing of his scarred back. She had added just a touch of the soothing herb, chamomile. She was happy she could make this gentleman comfortable, he has after all done so much to try to help rid of Jorge. But she was trying hard to suppress the feelings that were simmering deep inside. She just knew he was not going to stay and did not want to fall in love. She was carefully patting his back dry before putting the dressing back on. As she finished up near his neck, he reached behind him with his good arm and gentle grasped her hand. His eyes were still closed. She started once again to feel warm all over. She just didn't want to admit to herself that she was falling for this handsome stranger. His grip loosened as he fell asleep.


	15. dealing with it

He awoke in the middle of the night to the soft sound of Miguel snoring. He got up and got a drink of water. Luckily the table with the pitcher was right there and he didn't need his crutch. He didn't want to wake anyone in the house. After his drink he lay back down and he thought about the evening when Teresa sponged his back. He had a smile on his face; he was definitely becoming attracted to her. When his mind drifted from thoughts of Teresa to thoughts about his unknown past, his mood went from pleasant to sour. No one has an inkling of what it was like to not remember unless they had been through it themselves. Does he have a family? Are his mother and father fretting about his whereabouts? Are they alive? Does he have brothers and sisters? What about a wife? And kids? The people he will be meeting in the future, will they know him? Will they be friend or enemy? And what was with those silly blue pants and boots with the yellow band? There was so much information that he needed to fill the big void inside his head. 

As Victor lay there, overtired from all the hard work during the day, and mentally stressing out, he was trying to form a plan for his future. He would need to go searching for his past. Should he leave Teresa and Miguel, the only family he knows? Should he bring them with him? Would they come with him if asked? Should he stay and just start life over? That may be a good idea, for he had no idea if his past life was a good one or not. He could be a wanted man. That would mean going back would bring jail time. But, if that was the case, he should do the time and get it over with and start his life anew with Teresa and Miguel. But how could he start a new life not knowing his past life? Besides all he had to go on was the blue outfit. Neither Teresa nor Miguel seemed to know much about the people who wore these uniforms. 

Victor finally fell into an exhausted sleep in the wee hours of the morning. It was a dreamless sleep, void and black like his memory.

Lady Penelope was sitting having tea with her guest, Lady Deirdre. They were chatting on about world matters when Lady Deirdre remarked, "I wonder what happened to International Rescue. They disappeared off the face of the earth as quickly as they appeared." Penny slightly startled at the mention of their name, asked, "What makes you say that?" Lady Deirdre answered, "Why Penelope, my dear, haven't you been taking in of the news? There have been several catastrophes where it was known that a distress signal was sent to International Rescue, but they never showed up. According to NTBS, they haven't been sighted in over a week now. In fact the last known rescue they went on was down in Cumaguay, saving little children from a collapsed church. Rumors abound that they were taken captive down there, even though the government denies it. If you think about it, it makes sense. Here is a war torn country and a band of people go in with remarkable planes and machinery to do a rescue, and they never return. I would bet one side or the other has captured them all." 

Penny, not wanting to discuss it any further, as she was still quite depressed at the loss of Virgil, replied, "It sounds very logical Deirdre, I would bet that your are correct. By the way, did you know that there is a new art exhibit opening up in London this week? The opening night is a charity event. I have been invited. Would you care to join me?" 

Lady Deirdre's eyes lit up, "Why I would love to my dear."

Penny was successful in changing the subject matter away from such painful memories. Now hopefully Deirdre didn't notice the slight shimmer to Penny's eyes as she fought back the tears.

"I am going and no one is going to stop me!" yelled Alan.

"And just what do you plan to do when you get there? Are you going as International Rescue or Alan Tracy?" Tin-tin asked with a hint of sarcasm mixed in with a great deal of concern.

"I don't know yet. I will figure it out when I get there." 

"How are you getting there?" Tin-tin asked. These are the same questions whenever they had this argument. He gets fired up to leave but doesn't have any plans, she argues with him, pointing out all the flaws until they are both exhausted and end up going in different directions.

But this time, Scott heard the argument and entered the game room where they were. 

"Alan, give it up already, will ya?" he snapped. "Virgil is gone. Now let him be in peace. You going down to Cumaguay is just going to get yourself killed. Never mind the fact that losing another son will probably kill father. He won't even let anyone go up to TB5 because he's afraid something will happen."

Alan went up to Scott and standing on the balls of his feet to come up to Scott's height, was within an inch of Scott's nose. His face was beet red. Stating slowing, through gritted teeth, he said, "I am going to look for Virgil and no one is going to stop me."

Not liking anyone in his face, Scott pushed Alan away who ended up falling on his butt. This sent Alan over the edge and he launched himself at Scott. Tin-tin stepped in to try to break up the fight before it got out of hand and she was shoved away hard and fell on her backside as well. She just screamed "Stopit! Stopit! The two of you, just stop your fighting!" Gordon came running in at the sounds of a fight and attempted to break up his two brothers. He didn't know who hit him, but he was sent flying across the pool table after a solid right cross to his face. He landed on the floor on the other side of the table. Rubbing his jaw, he looked up at the wall and saw that he was right underneath the intercom. Luckily he knew which room John was in and called for help being careful that he didn't use the house wide channel to alert his father.

By the time John got to the game room, it was a three-for-all melee on the floor. He grabbed for the nearest shirt to pull the top brother off the other two but ended up with an elbow in the solar plexus. He sat down with a thud. Holding his chest, he kicked the nearest brother, who was sent flying out of the arena. He yelled, "Knock it off!"

Unaccustomed to John ever raising his voice, the last two combatants stopped fighting. He continued in a softer voice, "Why don't we talk about it? Let's see if we can iron out all the problems and try to bring Virgil's body back." 

The three brothers looked at John as if he had 2 heads. Still rubbing his chest, he said, "At least if we all put our heads together, we can come to the concrete solution of either going down to retrieve his body or not. It may not be feasible, but we can at least discuss it in detail which none of us have done at all. Even if we decide going down in not workable, I think we still need to talk it out." 

Tin-tin added her own two cents, "When you discuss this, I hope you finally come to the conclusion that it is not going to work and that there is nothing to go back to Cumaguay for." She got up and left the room in tears.

"So when do we leave?" piped Alan.

Jorge was already up before the dawn and kicked the closest man awake. "_C'mon, let's get moving" he growled. "I want to be home by tonight_." Jorge had found several new recruits during his foray, but lost a regular member due to his temper. Giraldo left quietly in the middle of the night knowing that if he tried to leave in front of Jorge, he would be shot in the back. The remaining followers were too afraid of Jorge to do anything including leaving in the middle of the night. The odds were against them staying alive if they did that. They started walking in the direction of San Pablo de los Angeles and his casa.

They were hungry, dirty, tired but most of all frustrated. They had attempted several times to hijack a vehicle but were unable to succeed for one reason or another. There was a firefight with government troops and they ended up scattering throughout the woods leaving what food and possessions behind for the government soldiers to abscond. Once he gathered up his men again, Jorge was ready to start his private little war with anybody. And his mind was made up that he was getting rid of that little brat Miguel. If he didn't leave willingly, he would simply shoot him.

Although for all intents and purposes, International Rescue was no more, Jeff just could not bring himself to reveal their identities. It was hard enough receiving condolences from friends and family, but he couldn't deal with the whole world knowing. Aside from the enormous number of cards, flowers and whatever else the world would feel obligated to send, the reporters would not stop harassing the mourning family in their quest for a story. So, much to his disdain, he concocted a story to cover Virgil's death. Virgil died while scuba diving alone just off the island. They found parts of his wetsuit and BC with shark bite damage. 

The family had sat down and discussed this at length. Alan was of no help as he kept insisting that Virgil was still alive. They toyed with the idea of a plane crash in the ocean, but the FAA would need to get involved. A car accident would yield a body. A kidnapping or lost persons report would involve the police. The best scenario they could come up with was a shark attack, especially since they live in the South Pacific in shark infested waters. They developed the details and even used real shark attacked objects from the boys' close encounter in Gordon's underwater garden a while back.*

Now with 'evidence' in hand, Jeff needed to have another meeting with authorities and insurance adjusters to close the book on Virgil. Although he was procrastinating, he knew he needed to take care of this duty within the next few days.

*Thanks to Seaviewrosie for her "Damned Shark Story"


	16. time to rest

When Victor awoke, the sun was already shining into the small house. Miguel was no where to be seen and Teresa was just sitting down to eat.   
"Where's Miguel?" he asked her.

"He was up early and has already eaten. He wanted to finish the hole he worked on yesterday and to make sure it was deep enough to stop whoever fell in. He also needed to add some small logs to the bottom. How did you sleep last night, Victor?"

"Pretty good, thank you. I need to get out and finish my work as well."

"Not until you eat first and let me check your back. I want to make sure I cleaned it thoroughly last night and that there is no new infection starting."

While Victor was waiting for Teresa to fix breakfast, he grabbed the bellows and the ash that Miguel had set aside days earlier and started to pour the ash into it. He then grabbed a bottle of alcohol and poured that in as well. Holding it in the open position but covering the hole with his finger, he shook it fairly hard. 

She looked over at him with a puzzled look to her face.

"A home made version of tear gas. Just point and shoot." He said as he mimed a closing action on the bellows handles.

He laid it carefully on its side by the fireplace, ready to fire.

After breakfast and the ritual checking of the wounds, Victor hobbled out to where Miguel was working. He was inside the 7-foot deep pit still working. Victor just stood there astounded that such a young boy was able to do such a monumental task. 

Even though he didn't say anything Miguel could see the surprise in his eyes. "You like, Victor?" he asked proudly.

"I don't know what to say Miguel, this is awesome work."

Miguel blushed slightly then climbed up the ladder he had started to use as the pit got deeper. 

They threw a few logs into the pit to encourage injury if someone fell feet first. Then Victor said, "I have one more trap I want to set. But I will need your strength. They set off for one final path with the last length of rope and set up a foot trap with a bent young sapling. The trap would be triggered when someone stepped into a hidden noose, and the sapling would spring up grabbing the hapless attacker by the ankle. By mid-day, all the traps that Victor could think of setting had been set. There were still a few paths through the woods that did not have any traps, but they couldn't cover them all. Miguel added a little more water to the muck in the pasture to make sure it remained sticky. 

Victor and Miguel headed back to the house for lunch after checking that all the traps were set and ready to go. Victor silently prayed that the traps would do what he wanted, no more no less. He didn't want anyone killed, but he needed to scare this Jorge fellow away for good.   
Teresa had lunch ready and they sat down at the table to eat. Victor's knee was still giving him trouble so they usually chose to eat at the table instead of on the mat outside. 

  
After lunch, Teresa forced Victor to lie down and rest. It was a hard earned rest and his body needed it. He still ached all over, but it was pretty much because he wasn't letting his body rest and heal as needed. He lay down on the straw mat next to the fire pit, as there was no fire lit today. He took his shirt off to bask in the sunlight. It felt good to just lie back and relax even though he still felt guilty doing it and not working around the homestead. After a time, Teresa came over and sat next to him on the pretext of checking him over. Although they didn't hurt, his ribs were a rainbow of colors. But the rest of his chest wounds were almost completely healed. 

"C'mon, you check my back and butt this morning, we don't need to go through that again." Victor complained as he closed his eyes to the bright sun. 

"I wasn't going to ask you to take your pants off Victor." She paused a minute then added, "not unless you want to."

Miguel knew enough to find something to do when he saw his mother sit down next to Victor. He took the burro and said that he was going to head back into town on the premise of looking for more clues about Victor or to see if anyone had heard the whereabouts of Jorge. He would be gone about 4 hours pretty much the rest of the day. His real plans were to go to his private little spot by the waterfall that was halfway to town. He was going to just rest, for he was very tired too from all the hard work. Hopefully, this would give Victor and Teresa more time to develop a relationship.

It took Victor a moment before he realized what she had said. He opened one eye and peeked at her. She smiled demurely and prepared to get up. He placed his hand on hers to stop her. "Don't go." 

She sat back down as he got up on one elbow. She asked, "What do you want?"

"I like your company, the chores can wait. They will still be here tomorrow." He said.

She started to blush deeply. It has been a very long time since she was attracted to a man. She loved her husband dearly, but they were married a long time, since she was a teen. The only other man that had been in her life was Jorge and he just took what he wanted. This was totally different, he was a stranger, a handsome one at that, and she did not know how to handle this flirtation. She has not felt this kind of attraction since…since…she could not remember when. She started to fret about her hair, that she needed to comb it, and she then realized she was wearing a work frock, very unflattering, and this caused her to blush even more. 

Victor sensing her unease about her appearance reached up and slowly kissed her on the cheek. He then guided her face towards him and kissed her on the mouth.

"You are beautiful just the way you are," he said softly.

She just sat there blushing. She didn't know what to say or do. She did know that she wanted him, but not how to go about it. 

Victor laid back down pulling her with him into a soft embrace. He gently kissed her on her neck. She started to relax and kiss him back. As they started to entangle themselves in each other, Victor removed his pants. He suddenly fell back into laughter. Disheveled, Teresa looked at him trying to figure out why he suddenly broke from the passion of the moment into laughter. 

"I'm still wrapped up like a mummy below the waist, you did a very good job of covering my wounds."

Teresa sat up, pushing her hair off her face, looking very embarrassed. 

"It's alright, I will enjoy the unwrapping more this time" as he started to fumble with the beginning of the wrap. She took over the task from him, freeing his hands. He took advantage of that and started to unbutton her blouse. 

Miguel was napping at the falls. The constant dull roar lulled him into sleep. He awoke suddenly when he thought he heard a difference but slightly familiar sound. He couldn't place exactly what it was, but since it was going to get dark in a little over an hour, Miguel decided to head on back. It was always very dangerous to travel in the dark.

Jorge looked to the late afternoon sun. 'Good, he thought to himself, I should be home in about an hour just before dark.'


	17. in the woods

The four Tracy brothers held a pow-wow late into the night. They didn't worry about their father finding out about their spontaneous little meeting. He had been too wrapped up in his own thoughts. They discussed the possibility of finding a body that was over a week old in the forests of Cumaguay. Where would they even start the search? Should they ask for help from the soldiers that helped them earlier? Should they go as International Rescue or the Tracys? 

The easiest answer they had was where to start. They would go to the last spot where Virgil was known to have been, under the rock overhang. They also decided that if they did go, they could do it when their father had to go finish the business with the authorities. They knew that would be within a few days and he would probably stay overnight at the apartment that Tracy Industries owned. But they discussed long and hard if they should go as IR or Tracys. The direction the discussions headed in indicated that they no longer were discussing IF they should go. That seemed to have become a definite. But the discussions got very heated at times during the planning stages. Alan kept wanting to go in with TB2's guns blasting. Gordon was losing his temper at Alan's dumb idea.

In the wee hours of the morning, they finally came to the conclusion that yes, they will go. They will leave when their father goes away. They will bring outdoor gear to prepare for camping, as well as arms since there was a civil war still occurring. They would bring the necessary equipment to check any remains so that they didn't bring back the wrong body, which in that war torn country, was a very real possibility. Since they are in such a dangerous business, one of the more unpleasant tasks that Brains tackled was to have a portable DNA testing kit with a baseline on all the boys. They decided to go as International Rescue for two big reasons: if they ran into the army they would already be identified as IR, and there was no place to land the family jet, they needed the hover capability of either TB1 or TB2. They chose TB2 for the extras it had, such as a larger sickbay, hoverbikes, laser cannons and more.

At the breakfast table the next morning Jeff didn't noticed the sleepless faces. He was deep in his own misery and the fact that he still had to deal with authorities over the death of his son. He spoke to the table in general, "I will be heading to New York today and staying a couple of days to tie up loose ends."

The boys just stared at their father. They hadn't expected him to take care of business so soon. This means they would have to rush a bit, but they could probably leave for Cumaguay by noon. They had finalized all their plans before coming to breakfast. 

Scott spoke first, "So what time are you leaving? Are you staying at the apartment?"

"I will be leaving by 10 AM, and yes, you have the phone number right?" 

Scott nodded yes. 

As the boys watched their father's plane disappear over the horizon, they scattered in all directions needing to accomplish their assigned chores. When Brains found out their plan he wanted to come along too, but Scott pointed out that someone needs to cover for them if their father calls and he would be the best bet. Tin-tin went sulking into her room when she found out. She thought it was foolish and dangerous and insulting to the memory of Virgil. 

By 11:15 they were headed back to Cumaguay. Although they had decided to go down as IR, they decided to change their clothing a bit. Anyone who they had already met down there as IR would not think twice if the uniforms were different. So they opted to wear all black and just have their sash on. This way it looked to be a uniform, but they didn't stick out in the bright blues.

Scott landed TB2 in the same spot as the original rescue. The scene looked the same, deserted. The only difference was that there were no soldiers around. Scott hoped that no one would show up until after they had left to avoid questions, as he was sure someone would have heard the great jets. TB2 would be locked up tight so no one could break in. They quickly gathered their equipment. They had overnight gear, survival gear, climbing gear, anything that they even remotely thought they would need including weapons and extra ammunition. After double and triple checking to make sure they had everything, they left TB2. 

Since they had already been to the overhang once before and returned via a better path, they went straight for it. They were at the overhang within 1/2 hour. Gordon, the better of the trackers among his brothers, knelt down and studied the pretty much undisturbed tracks. They all quickly picked out Virgil's boot marks. They found several clear footprints as well. Upon further study, they all seemed to agree that the same person, maybe two on the outside most probably made it, if they wore identical shoes down to the size.

They had a hard time trying to figure out exactly where to go from this point. They kept looking for footprints leading away. Alan was the first to go across the creek to see if he could see anything over there.   


"Hey, guys, I think I found something!" he shouted. 

The other Tracys all ran over. There, on what looked like an animal path, was a footprint. The same kind they saw under the rock formation. What they couldn't figure out at first was the funny round prints next to it. Nor could they find any of Virgil's footprints.

"Hey, hey! I think I know what these are!" exclaimed Gordon. "It looks like a small horse."

"Or maybe a donkey?" John added. 

"Why not, this is after all a very rural area in a small country. I would bet lots of the locals own burros." Scott volunteered.

They looked in the direction that the prints seemed to go and headed in that direction. Going was slow and they stopped often to make sure they could still see the prints. At times the prints disappeared, and they frantically looked around to find the beginning of the next trail. At one point they saw the hoofprints going in the opposite direction and thought to turn around until Alan found them still in the correct direction up ahead of them. Other times they saw what looked like very fresh hoofprints but no human prints. It actually looked to be a heavily traveled path.

Scott looked at his watch when he saw the sun dip behind the mountain. Although there was still quite a bit of daylight left outside of this deep ravine, it was going to get dark there soon. 

"Let's find a place to set up camp."

Alan balked, "Aw, c'mon, we still have a lot of time left."

Scott replied, "If we wait until it is completely dark we may not be able to see where to set up camp, get firewood, or anything else for that matter. Besides, we aren't going to make it much further following the tracks anyway."

Reluctantly Alan agreed and they found a flat slightly open area to pitch their tent and make camp.

At one point in his journey back home, back on the main path to town, Miguel felt like someone was following him. It wasn't so much as hearing anyone, just sensing it. He also thought that the sound that woke him up was the same as that day he saw the great green machine land in town. The sound of the jets. He wasn't sure, but it worried him. What if the men in blue actually were coming to look for Victor?! He hurried his burro along as fast as he could on that narrow rocky path. 

Teresa lay in Victor's arms half asleep basking in the warm sun. She hasn't felt this wanted or cared for in such a long time, she didn't want this to end. Victor had his eyes closed and with his arms around her just drank in the softness of her skin. He felt like he belonged. It has been a while since he felt like this, he had just been feeling empty. But now, after their lovemaking, he felt more content.

"Victor, the sun is setting, I think Miguel will arrive home soon. I really don't want him to catch us like this." Teresa said without giving a hint of moving.

"Uh, huh. I think maybe you are right." He replied without giving a hint of moving either.

Suddenly they heard a crash down the path where one of the traps was set and a loud string of curses from an obviously very angry man. 


	18. Welcome home, Jorge

Jorge and his band of 10 were trudging down the path that led to his home. The weather was nice enough this time of year so that they could all sleep outside while he was inside with his woman. As he walked through the rugged terrain of the forest paths, Jorge always stepped higher, a habit that kept him from tripping. He cleared Victor's trap without noticing it. So did the man behind him. It was the luckless third man who sprung the trap and got creamed by the heavy sack of rock and straw. He was knocked out cold. When Jorge saw this he thought it was Miguel and started a stream of cursing that even the men blushed at.

"_I'm gonna kill that sonabitch_" he screamed in Spanish and he launched himself towards the house. The path was narrow and rocky enough to slow him down.

Teresa jumped up, grabbed her dress and ran into the house. Victor struggled to get his pants on, then jumped up to follow Teresa, only to succumb to his bad knee and fall face first into the ground. Spitting out dirt, he grabbed for his crutch, got up and moved as fast as he could. He stopped at the door and yelled to her, "the bellows, point it to the face of anyone who comes here" then left to go around back. He hadn't planned where he should go when Jorge showed up. He had to play it by ear now. He had no choice. He knew he couldn't fit through the hole in the back of the barn that Miguel made, so the barn trap was out for now. He headed towards the pit. Hopefully someone would jump the fence of the paddock to go after him. As he rounded the back of the house he saw a lead pipe about 3 feet long. He grabbed it. 

Miguel heard the yelling and knew instantly what happened. He knew that voice and he was upset that Victor's first trap didn't get Jorge. He hurried his burro along the path to the rock outcropping he hid behind the day he brought Victor home. He peered around just as Jorge, red faced and exploding, barged into the yard from the other side. Miguel was about to step out and into the fray when he saw many more men than he had expected or that they had planned for. He stood there trying to decide what to do. He should go in and help Victor and his mother. They needed his help. But if he held back just for a moment, he might be even more useful, a surprise attack when they didn't expect it. He was torn as to what to do and he waited for the right opportunity.

The Tracy brothers were just about to pitch the tents and make camp when off in the distance they heard a commotion. They stopped what they were doing to listen. 

"It could be anything." Gordon said.

"But it is in the direction that we are heading in" added Alan. "Supposed it's the rebel camp and that is where Virgil is?"

"Would rebels use donkeys?" John asked alighting to the burro tracks that they have been following.

Alan just shrugged his shoulders. "It is still in the direction that the tracks point to. Suppose it is Virgil putting up a fight trying to escape?"

Torn between wanting to find their brother and being realistic that they are after all in the middle of a war zone, the Tracys were having trouble deciding what to do. Scott finally stepped into his leadership role and said, "Let's go. We've got nothing to lose. Pack all unnecessary stuff away into hiding areas, bring flashlights, guns, and our communicators."

Quickly hiding the tents, food, and climbing equipment under thick brush, the brothers were all set to find out what all the yelling was about. That's when they heard a shot.

There was just enough light left in the twilight to see clearly when Jorge barreled into the front yard. He caught the glimpse of someone running around the back of the house. It was most probably Miguel. It looked to be a male figure. He gestured to some of his men to go around to the other side of the house to cut the kid off. Then he went chasing after the lone figure. As he passed by the door, he decided to quickly stop and yell at Teresa that he was going to kill that kid of hers, but when he looked in, he got a faceful of homemade tear gas. 

Jorge stepped back screaming, clawing at his eyes. Teresa quickly stepped out and clobbered him over the head with a heavy skillet, then ducked back into the house. He fell hard. Several of his men ran over to him not really knowing what happened. Two dropped to their knees at the side of their fallen leader, two more went to the doorway. Teresa was able to get one more squirt of teargas out of the bellows to send one of the men screaming. She went to hit him over the head with the skillet but was grabbed by the other man. Smiling at his prize he said, "_Look what we have here, compadres. This is Jorge's little spitfire. Boy is he going to be madder than a nest full of hornets when he comes too_." Teresa was struggling against her captor but without much success.

She stopped struggling when she heard a shot.

Victor moved as fast as he could along the back of the paddock hoping that the men would decide it faster to jump the fence rather than go around. Two did. They both immediately fell when their feet stuck in the hidden mire. Victor went through the open gate in the back and being careful where he hobbled swiftly took out both men with the metal pole. He looked up in time to see three more men coming at him from around the paddock. He moved as quickly as he could back out of the paddock towards the pit and skirted around the far side of it. The nearest rebel fell right into the pit landing awkwardly on the logs breaking both ankles. As he screamed in pain, Victor turned around. He was looking straight down the barrel of a gun. The man standing near the paddock wasn't into playing games. He heard the shot

"I have a bad feeling about this." John said when they all hear the gun shot. 

Scott ever the logical one replied, "What are the odds that after missing for over a week and presumed dead, in a country in the middle of civil war, that that shot would have anything to do with Virgil?"

"A billion to one. So I say we had better hurry." Said Alan.

They all nodded in agreement and ran down the path that they had been following. 


	19. IR to the rescue?

Victor stood there in shock as the gunman aimed at the injured man in the pit and fired. He then pointed the gun back up at Victor. "_Put your hands on your head_." Eduardo commanded in Spanish. Victor just looked at him puzzled and replied, "No comprendo Espanola." 

"So you don't understand my language, eh gringo? I said put your hands on your head" snarled Eduardo. 

Victor put his left hand on his head but shrugged his right hand pointing to the crutch.

"Ok." He said indicating that Victor could use his right hand for the crutch.

Eduardo signaled Victor to walk around the paddock to the front yard. He and the other man left standing followed at a close but safe distance behind him.

Miguel was agonizing over what to do and was ready to try a run to the barn. He was hoping that both the men looking after Jorge would chase him and he could get two in one trap. That would leave maybe three men left standing. He watched and waited. When he saw that one man was busy holding his mother and the other two were still busy with Jorge, he bolted for the barn. He skidded to a stop only a few feet into the run when three more men came into view. They were basically between him and the barn. He would never make it. When they saw him, one yelled and the two nearest Jorge jumped up to give chase. He was close enough to the forest to duck back in quickly. He ran as hard as he could because he knew these men could catch him. He knew of a few hiding places that if he could reach them in time, he would be safe. Even as he was running for his life, he knew that was Victor they had captured. 

The Tracys were running slowly and carefully through the almost darkened forest. Suddenly, Alan who was in the lead jumped back crashing into John. Scott and Gordon could not stop their forward momentum and rear-ended John. Before anyone could complain to Alan, a frightened burro galloped past them. Stunned, they looked at each other, hesitated, then continued on. This time Scott took point. Scott wasn't quite as quick as Alan when Miguel plowed into him. But since the boy was probably half his weight, Scott was able to stand his ground. He grabbed him by the arms. 

When Miguel ran into Scott, he thought it was another of Jorge's men. All he saw was a dark haired man dressed in black. He started punching and kicking as hard as he could. He would put up the best fight he could muster. He broke free from the first man's hold, but there were three more who descended upon him. He was quickly subdued. He thought this was it, his life was over, then one of them spoke.

"Take it easy, we aren't going to hurt you, what's happened, what's going on?" Scott asked pinning one of his arms while each of the brothers had another limb. "If you relax we will let you up" he continued. 

Miguel succumbed to the brute force. Maybe he could escape if relaxed their grip enough. Scott sat back rubbing his stomach from a well placed punch and looked at Miguel. Miguel finally took a good look at Scott. His eyes wandered down and saw the blue sash on Scott, then he noticed the colored sashes on the other three. It dawned on him that these men were the blue soldiers. Just in a different uniform now. Before he could say anything, he heard crashing through the forest closing in upon them. A look of fear crossed his face and in a flash, the four Tracy brothers were up and had their guns drawn and aimed at whom or what would come around the bend. They were prepared for this collision.

The two rebels rounded the corner and slid to a halt when they encountered not one frightened boy but four heavily armed men in black. Instinct took over and they quickly turned and ran. Since they had come around a bend, they were out of sight before any of the brothers could stop them. They didn't pursue them but turned to Miguel. 

Scott spoke first. "Do you speak English?"

Miguel nodded yes.

"Now do you mind telling us what is going on here?"

Miguel once again was torn by a difficult decision. He needed help desperately but if these men are Victor's friends, then they will take him away. It didn't take long to make the decision however since Victor will die if they don't help.

"They have my mother and Victor. You've got to help me, please!" he cried.

"Ok, show us the way." Said Scott.

Victor was ushered over to the front door. Eduardo looked to Jorge, who was still out cold and said. "_Jorge will enjoy killing this one. He deserves it_." He looked to Jose who had a struggling Teresa, "_Tie these two up._" 

One of the two men that Victor knocked out in the paddock was slowly coming to. He struggled to regain consciousness and ended up coating himself in more muck. "_Get your ass over here_!" Commanded Eduardo. He had no desire to take over the leadership roll of this merry little band. He had all the intentions of letting Jorge have all the headaches. He would just reap the rewards. But since he was a natural, and had a mean streak as nasty as Jorge, he took charge automatically when Jorge was out of the picture. As the now awaken muddied man came over, Eduardo barked, "_Go get cleaned up_." His attention was quickly distracted as the two men who ran after Miguel came back out of the woods. "_He's got help, four soldiers, dressed in black and well armed_," one of the men was able to blurt out between breaths.

"_Quick_." He said and pointed to Victor, then Jorge, then Teresa. "_Get them into the house. Gag and secure them_" referring to Victor and Teresa. After they completed their task the men poured back out of the house, and Eduardo told them to go to different hiding places. 

Victor, on the floor and gagged, lay on his side with his feet drawn up behind him tied to his hands. He felt like one of the rodeo steers that cowboys wrangle and tie for a timed score. In this position, it was just a matter of minutes before his bad knee started to throb. He tucked his chin and moved his jaw around trying to remove the gag. He couldn't see Teresa as she was on the bed, and he had back to her. But he could still hear her working against her bonds as well. He did have a view of Jorge however and hoped that he would stay unconscious for a while longer.

As they came near to the boulder that Miguel has so many times hid behind recently, they slowed down. Miguel signaled them to go slowly and quietly. He peered around the rock and saw a strange man at the house. He didn't recognize him.

The brothers all took turns peering around the rock and assessing the situation. They fell back a few yards and hunkered down to discuss the situation. Miguel stated. "I know of at least six men. Jorge, the two who chased me, the one holding my mother, and the two who had Victor. I think there are more but I am not sure."

"Do you know who these people are?" Gordon asked.

"Jorge, he killed my father and has forced my mother to be his woman. The rest are just mercenaries, rebels."

Alan whispered in Scott's ear, who was sitting right next to him, "This isn't our fight. We're not here to get in the middle of a domestic dispute. We're here to find Virgil." 

Scott just shushed him quiet as he listened to Miguel. 

Miguel continued volunteering the information. "Victor and I set many traps. I know the barn trap has not been sprung yet. But I am almost sure they know about the paddock and the pit. There is a leg noose down that path," and he pointed to an opening across the yard. "I don't know if that was sprung or not. The one down that path was sprung, I heard it." He said lastly pointing to the path with the sack trap.

"What is the barn trap? Scott inquired.

"I chopped a small hole, just big enough for me, in the back of the barn. Victor wrapped rope around the poles supporting the barn in the front and fed the rope through the hole in the back. I was to lure someone there, then when they came after me I was to dive through the hole and either Victor or I would pull the rope that would take out the poles. We would trap someone under the roof of the barn then."

Scott thought to himself then said, "I think we can still use that. Do you know of any other traps still unsprung?"

"Just maybe the leg noose. I didn't see anyone use that path." Miguel said.

Scott sat pondering, "Let's see. They know how many of us there are. Not good. They know we probably know the layout of the house and property because of Miguel here. Not good. We don't know exactly how many of them there are. Another not good. But I would say that makes us just about even." Scott said optimistically.


	20. Attack on a house

Scott figured that they would not be expecting a frontal assault on the house. Since night was almost upon them, they waited. He had Alan jog back to where their camp was going to be and pick up several more black 'uniforms' and extra tools. Between inflatable casts, supports, tree branches, brush and whatever else they could find, they 'built' three more soldiers. 

The three fake soldiers were speared with a long thin piece of bamboo that John had cut down deep in the woods. Scott was hoping that in the darkness the rebels would not be able to see the rod holding up the three bodies. With Scott holding one end and Miguel holding the other, the 'soldiers' were spaced about two feet apart. The bamboo itself was about 10 feet long. When they storm the house, it is going to look like Miguel and the four men to anyone observing. This is exactly what Scott wanted the enemy to think, that everyone went into the house. The brothers determined via thermoscan that there were only three people in the house and they were all prone indicating that no one was guarding them. According to Miguel, the best guess was that they were Jorge, Victor and his mother. So Scott and Miguel were going to lay seize on the house with the three soldiers 'running' between them. This would leave John, Gordon and Alan free to scout around the perimeter. They felt they had the upper hand since they knew they were the only ones with a thermoscan. They were also confident that they were the only ones equipped with night vision goggles. 

Jeff arrived home unexpectantly. The lounge was deserted when he entered. Not really thinking that the boys were anywhere but about the island, he sat down at his desk to file away the last of the papers. Brains, not expecting anyone home for a while, was busy in his lab doing what he normally does down there. Kyrano was out tending his garden, still trying to find the perfect new flower to honor Virgil with. Grandma was in her room mourning. Tin-tin, who had been pouting in her room since the boys left, had come out for a cup of herbal tea. She was carrying her hot cup back to her room when she decided to go to the lounge instead. It was a spur of the moment decision, one with no reason behind it. 

When Jeff heard the cup shatter on the floor, he looked up and saw a shocked and distressed Tin-tin. 

"Tin-tin, what's wrong? He asked.

"Oh, Mr. Tracy, I just wasn't expecting anyone to be here. I thought you weren't coming back for another day or two."

"There was very little to do other than sign some papers. So I came home early." He answered. Then realizing that she seemed shocked to find **anyone** in the lounge he asked, "Where are the boys?"

Tin-tin was totally unprepared to lie to Jeff. She didn't work on a cover story, because she really didn't think she would need one.

"Uh, Mr. Tracy, um….."

Growing concerned, he asked again, "Tin-tin, where are the boys?"

When she was unable to answer him, he turned on the video camera in each of the TB bays. He relaxed when he saw TB1 still sitting on her launch pad. He then switched to the next bay and jumped out of his seat when he saw TB2 was gone. "WHERE ARE THEY, TIN-TIN!"

"Cumaguay. They went to Cumaguay to bring back Virgil's body." She cried out. Sobbing hysterically, she ran for her room. He clicked on the house wide intercom hoping that someone was still left on the island that would give him more answers, "SCOTT, JOHN, GORDON, ALAN GET UP TO THE LOUNGE, **NOW**!" 

There was no response on the intercom, but within a few minutes Brains hurried nervously into the room. "Uh, M-Mr. T-Tracy. When d-did you g-get home?"

"A few minutes ago" he said angrily. "What is this I hear that the boys went to Cumaguay?! Did all four of them go? Whose bright idea was that?!  


"Y-yes, Mr. Tracy. All f-four of them went. In T-TB2." Summing up more courage and to back up the decision of the four brothers, Brains defended them by saying, "They n-needed closure. They also n-needed to f-feel like they were d-doing something."

"When they come home, they are all going to be grounded for the rest of their lives!" Jeff growled illogically. "I hope they have their communicators with them?"

"Y-yes, sir."

When it was fairly dark, Scott put the plan into action. Gordon was going to stay put, Alan was going to go to the right, and John to the left. They had already pinpointed the whereabouts of the other men via thermascan. Gordon was going to keep it and keep track of where everyone moved. Miguel pointed out where the traps were set so that they would not catch anyone. Silently Alan and John left. When Scott felt the two vibrating signals on his communicator, letting him know John and Alan were in position, he signaled to Miguel that they were going in. "Run as fast as you can Miguel and have your end of the pole rest on your shoulder." Scott said, showing him just how to hold it so that the 'soldiers' stood up between them. Miguel nodded 'ok'.

Eduardo and Jose were watching the house from their vantagepoint, which was near the path that they originally entered into the front yard from. They were growing tired of waiting. They knew the four men were out there. He had dispatched two of the men to go the long way around and try to flush those soldiers out. He had the other two remaining men stationed near the barn and near the pit. The one man by the pit was very uneasy as he could smell the blood from the dead man.

Victor yelped softly when a knife cut his hand. He peered over his shoulder and saw that Teresa, hands bound behind her but not her feet, found a small kitchen knife and dropped it as close to Victor as she dare. He grabbed the knife and cut his bonds. Crawling over to the bed, he climbed onto it. His knee was useless at the moment. Luckily he was still using his crutch when he came into the house, and it lay where he dropped it. He quickly cut Teresa's bonds and undid her gag. He told her to tie Jorge up the way he was tied, then he grabbed his crutch and hopped towards the doorway. He was startled when it flew open and a man dressed in black with a blue sash came barreling in with three others behind him.

Scott came to a screeching halt when he saw what was in front of him.


	21. Not a shot fired

  Victor quickly lifted his crutch and swung it waist high at the intruder.  He caught him dead center in the midline and doubled him over.  He then brought the crutch down on his head. The dark haired man crumpled to the floor.  

Miguel a second behind yelled too late, "No Victor, he is our friend, he is here to help us!"

"Shit!" was all that Victor could say.  He looked to Teresa for help.  She quickly went over to the fallen man and looked at the knot forming on the back of his head.  She went to the sink and started to pump the water. She let a lot of water pass through because she wanted to get the coldest of the well water that she could.  Now satisfied with what was coming out, she soaked a cloth, wrung it out and placed it on the back of the man's head.  

Miguel stood there is stunned silence.  He thought they were friends of Victor's.  Victor didn't even recognize the man on the floor.  

Gordon saw on the thermascan that two men were headed in his direction, so he quickly ducked into the thick brush and turned his night vision goggles on.  They came in from behind, walking stealthily, trying to sneak up on the 'soldiers'. Gordon smiled as he saw how puzzled they looked when they reached the rock just before the open yard.  They looked around then left the path and went through the front yard heading for Eduardo.  They were still cautious because they didn't know if the soldiers made a break for the house or if they hid themselves around the compound.   When they finally made it back to Eduardo he told them that they all ran into the house.  He was not pleased. He didn't expect them to go into the house, he thought for sure they would have tried to sneak around and encircle them.  

Gordon watched the thermascan as one of his brothers approached the man near the pit.  Minutes later, John called Gordon to let him know that there was one down.  Gordon then followed Alan's thermascan.  A minute later he reported in that he had taken out the man near the barn.  Now they were waiting for Scott to contact them letting them know exactly what was happening inside the house.

Eduardo told his men to sneak up to the house using the shadows and darkness as much as possible.  He had his two men on the outskirts of the compound, so he didn't feel threatened from behind, not realizing that they had been already taken out. He sent two men to the far side of the house where there was a window.  They slunk close to the ground along the perimeter of the yard until the reached the barn.  They slithered through the open-ended barn. They did not see the rope wrapped around the poles and snaked under the straw. At the other side, they slipped through the fence slats of the paddock using the twig thin posts as cover. There was a small patch of open ground that they needed to cover before reaching the house. If anyone was looking out the window they could easily be seen.  So they waited for the frontal attack to make their final sprint.

 The other two went to the door.  As their two counterparts slunk around the far side to the back of the house, these two did the same to the front of the house.  The side of the house with the door had no window, so when they were on the perimeter of the yard directly across from the door, they were safe from being seen.  However, they converged on the house ever so carefully, crawling, lest they be out in the open if the door was to suddenly open up.  When they reached the house, they slide up the outside wall into a standing position on either side of the door.  They looked towards Eduardo.

Eduardo had stayed further behind in case of emergency.  He slid to the rock that defined the opening to the path to the town. The rock that Miguel so many times hid behind to see if Jorge was at his home. The rock that currently Gordon was hiding behind.  While Eduardo watched his men slither up to the house, he heard the soft click of a pistol beside his left ear. "_Senor, it would be very wise of you to drop your gun_." Gordon said almost undetectably. As he dropped his gun, Eduardo thought this gringo spoke very good Spanish, just a hint of an American accent.  Gordon quickly signaled through his communicator to the other two that he had the leader.  

John had been sitting in the shadows of the trough.  In daylight he would have readily been seen, but since he was dressed in black and in the shadows, he was as invisible as if he were sitting in the middle of a dense forest. The two rebels knelt down just 15 feet away from him, backs to him, watching the house. They were completely unaware of his presence and he would keep it like that until he felt the vibration of his watch.  He received the signal from Gordon and without revealing his location, he cocked the pistol. The noise was just loud enough to catch their attention and cause them to freeze.  He whispered "_Drop your guns and raise your hands_." Although they could barely understand his heavily accented Spanish, they still understood enough to do as he asked.

Alan was lying on the ground next to the woodpile behind the house.  The door that the two men were standing by was on the side.  He had covered himself with clutter and hugged the house almost invisible to the naked eye.  He could hear the two hombres sneaking up to the door and lay quietly until he got the word from Gordon.  He could see the big rock from his vantage point, but not Gordon or Eduardo, the angle was wrong.  He could no longer hear the two men moving in the direction of the house and felt more than saw that they were probably in position to enter the house forcibly.  When he felt the vibration on his wrist he went into action. Hardly moving a hair on his head, he lifted his arm and pointed his pistol along the side wall at the two men.  Although one was really shielded by the other, neither wanted to take the chance and make a run for it.  

John was the first to signal back that he had the drop on the two near him.  Gordon could see that Alan was just as successful in apprehending the two men by the door, ordering them to drop their guns.  John came around from the far side of the house with his two prisoners walking in front of him with their hands up.  Gordon pushed Eduardo forward.  He tried Scott again through the com but still didn't get an answer.  So he yelled into the house, "Hey, Scott, all clear!"

Miguel was the first to barrel out the front door, a face splitting grin glowing in the dark. The smile quickly faded as he had to tell about the one they call Scott.  Gordon's face soured when Miguel told him that Scott was knocked unconscious.  He was ready to belt this fellow they called Victor when he hobbled out.  He waited, watching the door and saw an attractive woman come out of the house shortly after Miguel did.  He could hear the shuffling of someone behind her who was having difficulty in walking.  He waited.

When he saw the bare-chested man, with a makeshift crutch hobble through the door, Gordon almost dropped his gun.  Then he heard the soft click of a pistol just behind his right ear.  "_Now senor, I think it is best that you drop your gun_."


	22. The tables turn

"Well Carlos, it is nice to see you wake up from your little nap." Eduardo said grinning as he took away Gordon's gun. 

"Who set that damned sack trap? I'm gonna kill him!" Carlos replied, still showing a little bit of grogginess and rubbing the side of his head.  

Miguel caught a quick look from Victor as he nodded towards the barn.  And as if on que, someone, either Scott or Jorge moaned from inside the house, catching Eduardo's attention for just a split second.  The other men were in the process of taking the guns away from John and Alan when the well time distraction occurred.  Victor lifted up his crutch and brought it down on Eduardo's arm, sending the gun to the ground.  Miguel bolted for the barn with two of Jorge's men in hot pursuit.  Alan and John each attacked the remaining men, the ones who had taken the guns from them.

As Miguel was running as fast as he could, he could hear gunfire behind him.  He couldn't tell if they were shooting at him or at the blue soldiers.  But he had one goal in mind and he was focused 100% on reaching the barn.  He could hear the footsteps catching up behind him.  He had a slight smile on his face when he realized that he heard more than one set of pounding feet behind him.  He just prayed that he could reach the barn before the men reached him.  As soon as his feet hit bedding, he dove for the back wall sliding on the clean dry straw.  He was able to slide half way through the hole on this one effort.  It took just a quick pull of his arms and he was through.  He looked up and grabbed the dangling rope, waiting, waiting.

The two men, taller and faster than Miguel were gaining quickly on the young man.  'Why is it he is going for the barn, does he not think that we will catch him there?' one of them thought.  They both saw him dive into the barn and seemingly disappear.  They stopped just short of entering the barn.  They looked at each other, puzzled.  There was a large pile of straw in the back. "_Do you think he is under there_?" one of the men asked.  "_It seems a bit obvious, doesn't it?  Maybe there is a trap door under the straw and he is escaping through a tunnel_." The other answered.  And with that bit of knowledge both men dove into the barn and aimed straight for the pile of straw.  

When Miguel heard the two men digging in the pile, he yanked on the rope and moved out of the way just as the bucket of rocks came flying out of the tree pulling the hidden rope that snaked throughout the barn and around the poles. There was a moment of hesitation when suddenly without the support of the now yanked poles, the entire roof caved in on the hapless men. The bucket missed the large rock on the first swing but then on the next round it lightly tagged it.  Just enough to make it teeter then roll down the plank and block the hole that moments earlier Miguel slid through.  

One man was knocked unconscious, and the other was pinned under the debris.  Curse words mixed with cries of help flowed from the barn.

Miguel smiled, he couldn't believe his good fortune that he was able to catch two in this trap.  He then turned his attention back to the house as he watched the melee between Jorge's men and Victor's friends. It was four on four.  Victor was struggling with Eduardo, and John, Alan and Gordon each had one of Jorge's men. Miguel cringed everytime he heard a shot.  Both John and Alan were struggling to get hold of the guns that their opponents held and periodically a shot would get fired. In one violent yank, John retrieved his gun from the rebel.  That same instance another shot went off, this from Alan's gun. Victor jerked back and fell to the ground.  Eduardo, now suddenly free of his enemy went for his gun on the ground near his feet. As he stood up ready to point it at John, he heard, "I won't if I were you!" and was staring down the barrel of a gun that Scott held.  "Tell your men to stop. NOW! and drop their guns." Scott ordered and to put even more emphasis on the command he lifted his gun and pointed it right between the eyes of Eduardo. He complied "¡La parada! Deje caer sus fusiles!"  he yelled.

When Miguel saw that the blue soldiers won the fight he came running.  The smile left his face as he slid to a stop and saw his friend on the ground.  He whispered, "Victor!"  

"Victor?"

All the Tracy's heard what Miguel called their brother.  They were all stunned.  But before any of them could give into the luxury of tending to Victor/Virgil, they needed to tie all these men up.  Scott looked up at Miguel, "Do you have any rope?"  When Miguel did not answer, Scott barked a little louder, "MIGUEL! Do you have any rope?"  Miguel snapped out of it and nodded yes.  He ran back behind the barn and was able to grab a long length of rope left from the barn trap.  He quickly ran back to the house and saw that his mother was already kneeling beside Victor.

"Victor, Victor!" cried Teresa as she knelt over him, brushing his hair off his forehead.  Gordon, Alan and John, although they had ironclad grips on their prisoners, just gawked at the still figure on the ground.  Scott didn't even look down.  He was puzzling the actions that occurred inside the house. It was as if Virgil didn't recognize him. He was watching Eduardo carefully, with his peripheral vision on Miguel. But his mind was still mulling over what Virgil did to him. And the name Victor, where did that come from?  Why is he calling himself Victor?

When Miguel came back with the rope, Scott said, "Miguel, cut the rope up into 2 to 3 foot pieces." Nodding, he ran into the house to get a sharp knife.  He looked down at the still figure of Jorge and spat on him.  "_This time you lose_." He said vehemently in Spanish. He then found the small sharp knife that his mother had used on Victor and proceeded to cut the rope into manageable lengths. When he had enough for all of Jorge's men, he went back outside. As he passed by the table he grabbed a few of the bandages that his mother had recently cleaned for Victor. He didn't see Jorge open his eyes, meanness just glaring through them.

Miguel handed a piece of rope to each of the Tracy brothers so that they could tie up their charges.  Scott gave him his gun to hold on Eduardo, while he tied his hands behind him.  Once the more important tasks had been completed, Scott and John knelt down next to Virgil.  Both afraid to touch him to see if were alive.  They had come so far, found him on pure luck, only to have him die,*again*.  Holding out a shaky hand, Scott felt for Virgil's pulse.  

"He's alive!" he said as he looked up at his brother's. "He has as strong pulse."  Turning to John, "Help me roll him over to see where he was hit." When they gently rolled him over, John, the first to see his back, gasped, "Oh my God, what happened to him?  Look at his back!"  

Teresa volunteered what she knew, "I think he was caught in the mortar attack on the village last week.  Those are shrapnel wounds on his back.  But they are almost all healed now."

They rolled him completely onto his front and found the bullet hole.  A collective sigh could be heard from all four brothers as they saw that although it will be painful, the bullet hit no major organs or blood vessels.  It went through the thick muscle of his back, the Latisimus dorsi, just under his right shoulder.  It seemed to have missed the ribs as well. 

Gordon was able to take his eyes off of his brother for a moment and noticed that Eduardo was looking around suspiciously.  He started to look around too when he realized that no one really knew how many men Jorge came with.  In fact, it was that very fact that got them into this firefight to begin with.  "Uh, guys?  How many men have we got accounted?" Gordon asked.

John looked up from Virgil and said, "there is a dead man in a pit on the other side of the paddock.  Another one tied up.  I put him in the pit with the dead fella."  Alan made a face when John said that, "Eeeewwwwww!"  John continued, "I also tied up a muddy guy who was just coming to in the paddock.  I'm guessing that Virgil took him out." 

Miguel looked up.  That was the first time he heard Victor's real name. "Virgil?  His name is Virgil?"  John nodded yes.

"So, that accounts for three men, what about you Alan?" Gordon asked.

"I have one trussed up against a tree. He's not going anywhere for a while."

"That's four. We have this guy here and his three cohorts, and the two in the barn.  That's 10, plus that Jorge guy, who's tied up inside the house.  That's eleven."  Gordon purposely did a count to watch Eduardo's reaction.  Maybe he would be hoping that one of the other men that John and Alan got would be able to help them.  His reaction was slight, but he would never make a good poker player.  Gordon was satisfied that it was a look of disappointment. There were no "extra" unaccounted for men on the periphery.

Scott looked to Teresa, "Senora? What can you tell me of Virgil's injuries?"

"Virgil?" she said softly.   "That seems to fit him better than Victor.  He said that he thought his name began with V but couldn't quite find the right name.  We came up with Victor."

Scott could see that she was extremely fond of Virgil.  He kept quiet and let her continue.

She spoke as she started to dress the newest injury. "I have never met a man so accident prone.  Is he always like this?"

Before anyone could answer, she went on, "Miguel, my son, wanted to go to the village to find out more about you men.  This was 2 days after you rescued the children.  He found your friend on the way there and brought him back. He was very cold.  I thought he would die.  You see his back.  His chest wounds are pretty much from the fall.  What Miguel thinks is that he fell near the church. That is the steepest part of the ravine. I am surprised he survived that." She pointed to his left arm. "He had a very bad infection there."  Then pointing to his knee, "His knee is badly damaged too but I do not know what is wrong.  He can hardly put any weight on it."

She looked up "He cannot remember anything.  He does not know his name, who you are, where he came from.  Nothing."

A cloud of worry shadowed all of the faces of the Tracy brothers. 

"Please, if you don't mind, untie my friends."

Suddenly the face of worry became a face of alarm as the brothers turned towards the doorway of the house.  There stood Jorge with a machine gun in his hand, freshly cut ropes dangling from his wrists, and the knife that Miguel had just used to cut the ropes but left inside.


	23. No hope?

As Victor came to, he could tell that the sun was just about to rise.  He must have been out for hours. Since he was still shirtless from the day before, he was very cold and shivering. When he started to move, sharp pain seared just under his shoulder, then he realized he was once again tied up. He rolled over onto his back and found that he was in the front yard, near the fire pit.  Sitting around in a circle a few feet away were four men dressed in black, with colored sashes on and their hands tied behind them.  He did not see Teresa or Miguel anywhere.  He recognized the one guy with the blue sash as the one he hit and Miguel had called him a friend.  

John was the first to see Virgil move.  He whispered softly so as not to arouse Jorge's men, "Virgil's awake."

The others turned to look at Virgil.

Alan was the closest, so he whispered over, "Virgil, you ok?"

Victor gave them a blank stare.  He thought, 'He called me Virgil, is that my name?'

"Virg, you ok?" Alan whispered a little louder.

"Do you know me?" Victor asked.

Alan just turned back and looked at his brothers with a hurt look on his face.  "He still doesn't know us."

Scott was about to reply verbally, but instead just quickly nodded yes as several of Jorge's men returned from digging their friends out from under the barn roof, and pulling the one out of the pit.  

Victor heard soft sobbing coming from the house.  When he looked over to the door, Jorge was coming out pulling up his pants and wearing an evil smile.  "_That will keep her quiet for a while, my friends_" he said with a sneer.  His men all laughed, knowing what he did to her and yet too afraid to not agree with him. Victor knowing exactly what Jorge did, spat, "What did you do to her?! You leave her alone!"

Alarmed, Alan yelled, "Virgil, shut up!"

Jorge crouched down next to Victor and grabbed his hair, lifting his head off the ground.  "I am going to enjoy killing you slowly.  I haven't made up my mind yet what to do, but you can be assured that by the time I am half way done with you, you will wish you were already dead."  He slammed Victor's head back down on the ground.  

Then looking towards Alan he said, "I will decide what to do with you when I find out more about you.  You are not soldiers or mercenaries.  You could be worth something alive.  Pray that you are, because if not, you die too." He got up and walked away.

Scott had been furiously trying to think of a way out of this mess.  He knew how to get out of cave ins, burning buildings and floods, but even with his military experience, he couldn't think of how to get out of their current problem.  His watch had vibrated several times during the night.  Since all his brothers were here, he was assuming it was either Brains or Tin-tin. He desperately needed to tell them that they were in trouble, but he couldn't answer the call.

Victor was worried sick.  He knew the soft cries were Teresa, but he didn't know where Miguel was.  The last thing he remembered was fighting Eduardo.  Did Miguel escape?  He wished he knew.

Gordon said softly, "I have been working on my bonds for hours now, and they don't feel any looser."

"Me, too." Replied Alan.

Scott and John just nodded in agreement.  

After a while a battered Teresa came out with a tray full of food for Jorge's men.  She didn't look at Victor or the Tracy brothers.  She just placed it next the fire which had now been started by one of the men.  She turned, eyes downcast and walked back into the house.  Victor's heart ached at the sight.

Jorge once again appeared about mid-morning and spoke with Eduardo.  They were speaking quietly, Eduardo nodding periodically.  Eduardo motioned to two of the men, and the three disappeared into the forest.

Jorge then circled around the brothers.  He crouched down between Scott and John to be at eye level.  He doesn't say a thing, but studies them carefully.  He looks at their sashes, especially the emblems, studying the **helping hand** and seeing the letters IR.

Finally he says, "I know who you are. You are International Rescue. I have heard about your fantastic rescues, and it was you who was in the village last week, getting the children out of the church.  I didn't think such a large world wide corporation would concern itself with the desires of a boy wanting to rid of the man in his mother's life.  Since when do you become involved in family quarrels, eh?"

Looking towards the path that Eduardo just left on he asked, "Where is your plane?  Did you land it in the same spot that you did last week?  Did you bring the same large green one?  Do you know with that fantastic machine I could easily win this war and become dictator of this country.  I won't need an army, just the plane."  A dreamy glare glazed his eyes at that thought.

Gordon the first to defend IR yelled, "You'll never be able to get TB2 off the ground."

Jorge pointed a pistol at John's head. "Oh I am sure you will be very willing to show me how to fly that plane of yours."  All the color drained from John's face as he felt the cold steel of the gun barely touching his temple.

"Woman!" Jorge called into the house, "Where's my lunch?" And he got up and went back into the house.

Alan said worriedly, "We can't let them take Thunderbird 2!"

"I am confident that they won't be able to get inside her, never mind fly her." Scott assured.  "I'm not worried about her, I'm worried about us." Scott confessed.  "I wish I knew where Miguel disappeared to. I haven't seen him since we got tied up."

The day just dragged on.  Jorge periodically came out to taunt the brothers or Victor then disappeared inside the house again.  The Tracys couldn't plan much as his men were constantly patrolling around them and making sure they were still tightly bound.

As the sun dipped towards the horizon, Eduardo and his men returned.  The look on his face was enough to tell Jorge that they had failed. "I worked on that damned plane for nearly 3 hours, and I couldn't even scratch the paint!" he said angrily.

Jorge asked, "Did you try shooting the lock?"

"The lock, the door, the windows, it was just a waste of good bullets."

Jorge grew angrier as Eduardo detailed his attempts at breaking into TB2.  He turned and kicked at the nearest object, which was Victor.  Victor grunted at the hard blow but swung his legs around and swept Jorge's legs from under him.  He fell with a thud.

Jorge jumped up red with fury.  He pulled out his gun, and grabbed Victor by the hair again nearly yanking him completely off the ground.  "You will die for that!"  He cocked the gun and placed it between Victor's eyes.

"No, this will be too merciful.  I want to you linger in agony for all the pain you caused me. I am going to take you apart piece by piece." And he pointed the gun at Victor's good leg.

"DON'T DO IT!" Cried Alan.

Before he could pull the trigger, Jorge looked up at the group of black clad men. Narrowing his focus to Alan, the now familiar evil sneer once again spread over his face.  "Now I know which one of you will tell me what I want to know about the plane.  All I have to do is shoot your friends here, one by one, like this." He pointed the gun at John and fired.


	24. The tide turns

"NOOOOOOO!" the three remaining brothers yelled in unison as John fell over. In the waning light, none of them could tell where he was hit. Or if he was even still alive.

Jorge's attention returned to a struggling Victor. "You're next."

As he pointed the gun at Victor's kneecap, he slowly started to squeeze the trigger. Suddenly, there was a booming thunder and the darkening yard lit up brighter than high noon on a cloudless day.

Scott instantly recognized the sound of his beloved ship. A booming voice was heard resonating from above. 

"**Drop your guns**!"

Jorge turned his attention to the bright light overhead and started firing. A blast of firepower from the ship cut Jorge down. He would no longer terrorize the Teresa's of the world. 

Seeing that Jorge was dead, all of his men, including Eduardo, dropped their guns and raised their hands.

"Free your prisoners!" the voice bellowed again.

One of the men went around the circle of Tracy boys and smoothly sliced their bonds. He then went over to Victor and released him. Scott's first reaction was to check on John. He gave a huge sigh of relief when he realized that he was only grazed on the head, just above the ear. He will suffer from a severe headache for a while, but that should be all. He could he a collective sigh of relief from Alan and Gordon.

Scott quickly got everyone organized. All of Jorge's men were rounded up, and tied. They were then ushered behind the house, leaving the large front yard open for TB1 to land. 

Victor, when he was set free, instantly got up and ran into the house. He ignored the pain in his knee and willed it to work. When he burst through the door, he was stopped dead in his tracks at the sight before him. On the floor, Teresa was gently rocking the body of her battered son. Victor couldn't even muster a sound, he just mouthed the word 'no'. He limped over to her and collapsed to his knees. Kneeling, he gently cupped Miguel's head in his hands. The body was already cold, he had been dead for hours. Teresa didn't acknowledge Victor's presence, but just kept keening as she rocked her son.

Outside Scott gave the ok to the pilot of TB1 and she landed gracefully in the open area. Scott walked towards his ship. He was thinking he was never so glad to see her. She never looked more beautiful. He smiled when the door opened up and the pilot exited. 

"Father! Am I ever so glad to see you! But how?......what are you do home so early? How did you know to come here?" Scott tried to ask a million questions at once. Jeff walked towards his son and embraced him. Then he held Scott at arms length, anger flashing in his grey eyes. "I am not even going to ask you the details yet. Let's take care of these men whoever they are, and get home."

"We found Virgil, alive." Scott said quietly without enthusiasm.

Jeff heard the lack of excitement at finding their brother, "But……..?"

"He doesn't remember us. He is going by the name of Victor."

Before Jeff could respond, they all heard an anguished cry pour forth from the house. Gordon and Alan, although they wanted to rush the house, stayed with the prisoners. John, who had awakened with a splitting headache before TB1 landed, joined Scott and Jeff and they ran into the house. There on the floor, Virgil was holding Miguel. He was crying deeply. Teresa, in a trance, was still rocking and keening. This was the first time Scott and John saw that Jorge had gotten to Miguel. They had all thought he had escaped.

"Oh God, no!" Scott cried. John just sank into the closest chair.

Jeff, not understanding, stood quietly. He would get the answers later when they got home. He stood in shock at seeing his dead son. At first he just soaked in the vision of his living son. Then he walked up to this scarred and battered man and placed his hand on his shoulder. 

"Virgil."

Victor just pushed the hand off his shoulder. This was his family in front of him. He did not know who these men were, dressed in black, flying strange machines and calling him Virgil.

Scott left the house and told Gordon and Alan the sad news. Both of them took the news badly. Tears streamed down Alan's face. Gordon's face grew red with anger. "Why him? He was just a boy forced to do a man's job."

Rejected by the son he thought was dead, Jeff turned and went out to find Scott. "I've already put in a call to the government soldiers. A Captain Rojo is going to come out first thing in the morning and take these rebels off our hands."

Scott replied, "I know Rojo, he was the captain in charge when we rescued the children. He's a good man."

As the dawn bloomed, it was a befitting day. No sunshine, no blue sky. Just grey and dreary. As promised, Captain Rojo appeared first thing in the morning with a small contingency of soldiers and took all of the rebels away. He turned to Jeff, "Would you like for us to take the woman too?"

Jeff just shook his head, "No. We will take her to a hospital. She needs immediate care. Thank you for coming as fast as you did."

"No problemo, Senor. What about the American with her?"

"He is our missing operative. He will be going to the hospital as well. Thank you for your assistance Captain. I think we are finished here."

"Adios, Senor." And with that the captain left with his prisoners of war.

Turning to his two youngest sons Jeff said solemnly, "Take TB2 home. Let everyone at home know about Virgil and his condition."

Even though he could see disappointment on their faces, neither of them said no. They wanted to stay with their newly discovered brother, even if he couldn't remember who he was. They were hoping that they could be present when he suddenly does remember and there is a grand joyous reunion. Instead they quickly gathered their things and left for Thunderbird 2. On their way back they picked up their supplies and equipment that they had hidden away when they heard that one in a billion shot. 


	25. in the hospital

The ride to the hospital was somber. Jeff, still half in the throws of mourning Virgil, was now succumbing to the shock of seeing him. He was beginning to feel the joy of finding Virgil, but also upset that Virgil was not Virgil. He was someone called Victor. 

Virgil had shown no signs of recognizing anyone. He actually seemed defensive towards them. He stayed away from all of the Tracy's while they cleaned up after the fight. Before any of them left, every one of them had gone over to Virgil hoping that maybe they could jolt some recognition from him. Gordon tried some of his jokes, John tried the "poor me, I'm wounded and you always worry about any of us who are hurt", Alan tried to anger him by saying he was just faking it and received a stern look from his father for it. Scott, who has the closest bond with Virgil talked about how they saved each other's lives in a number of ways. When he failed, Jeff went over and called him 'son'. Virgil lashed out yelling, "Don't call me 'son'!" That was when Jeff told all the others to leave him alone for the time being. They still hadn't told him that they were family. But due to earlier reports from Miguel and Teresa, Victor did know that he had worked for this group.

Now in TB1 he just sat with the woman, holding her, comforting her and periodically looking over to the body bag containing that of a boy who had been on the edge of manhood. 

Jeff was worried not only about the amnesia but also about his physical condition. He doesn't remember ever seeing any of his boys so badly banged up. He can't begin to image all that Virgil had been through since he went missing. He sighed and left the small sick bay of TB1 and headed up to the cockpit where Scott was piloting Thunderbird 1 and John was sitting in one of the extra seats. He was flying them to the Auckland hospital that had taken care of them so many times before. The personnel of the hospital do not know their last name, they just know them as International Rescue. They have worked on Virgil before and have his records. So he will become a patient of theirs once again as the IR operative Virgil, not as Virgil Tracy.

Scott got clearance and landed TB1 in the field, which is now the common landing area for TB1 or TB2. The hospital staff brought out three gurneys; one for Teresa, one for Miguel and one for Victor. He fought the idea of being brought into the hospital on a gurney, but when he knee failed to support his weight, he succumbed to taking a ride. 

"Well, he hasn't changed in that respect." Scott said, "He still hates being coddled."

After waiting for almost 2 hours, Dr. Caneck came into the waiting room and spoke with Jeff and Scott. "What is the name of the woman?"

"Teresa is all we know." Scott answered.

"She is not doing well at all. She was pretty badly beaten up. She has some serious internal injuries."

"I didn't know that. She looked like she was hit pretty hard, but she didn't lead on that she was hurting that seriously." Scott volunteered.

"Add the seriousness of the injuries with the loss of that young man……her son, I presume?"

Scott nodded yes.

"I don't think she will make it. The odds are against it. The biggest problem isn't her injuries but her lack of will to live. People can survive what she has gone through, but they have to want to survive. She just doesn't want to. And with these injuries she needs to fight to stay alive." The doctor explained.

"And what about Virgil?" Jeff asked.

"Ah yes, he's your man, isn't he?" The doctor asked.  
  
Jeff nodded yes.

"He has a lot of problems. Nothing life threatening, but the most obvious is his amnesia. It is quite severe, he remembers nothing of his past. Not even seeing familiar faces, objects or the shock of the attack you talk about has snapped him out of it. Familiar items or shock are the two biggest cures for amnesia. I don't want to alarm you but he could forever remain like this."

Jeff remained quiet for a moment while he digested that bit of news, then asked, "What about his physical injuries?"

"The worst of them right now seems to be his knee. It's shot. He will need surgery to repair all the ligaments, tendons and cartilage. He can't use it until we operate, it just will not support his weight. He is pretty scarred up, but who ever tended him, was it that woman? Seems to have done a good job of fixing him up. He has the remnants of a very severe arm wound, which is healing. Did you know he was shot recently? He has a fresh wound through the muscle of his back that controls shoulder movement. A few stitches there will take care of that. It only seems to have affected the muscle and no other tissue. He also has two broken ribs that have started to heal just fine. Two of the wounds on his back, one on his buttocks and one on his upper thigh seemed to be the only open wounds left. But they are healing well too. She did a good job of nursing him. Physically he will heal. It is the mental and emotional scars that are worrying me. A lot."

That last phrase was like a gunshot to Jeff. Doctors usually try to sound a little upbeat. 

"When can we see him?"

"He is being transported up to a private room right now. Check with the nurse to see which room he is in. The woman is going to ICU."

"Thanks Doctor."

Scott and Jeff entered room 404 and saw Virgil lying with his eyes closed. His bad leg was raised and resting on several pillows. He wore several patches about his body on the still open wounds and there was a fresh wrap on his left arm. Jeff studied him and thought he lost a lot of weight. Scott thought the same thing. Before either of them could speak, they were approached from behind. Jeff turned when he was tapped on the shoulder. John stood there with a bandage around his head. "How are you feeling, son?" Jeff asked, suddenly feeling guilty that he has all but ignored his fair-haired son. 

"I'm ok dad, it was only a graze. In fact they said it doesn't even need stitches. They just want to keep it wrapped a few days to keep it clean. They gave me some prescription painkillers and they are doing the trick. I hardly have any headache at all."

Then looking to Virgil, "How's he doing?"

"We haven't spoken to him yet."

Then without warning, with his eyes still close, Victor spoke, "I'm not deaf, you know. I can hear you. What do you want?"

The tone in Virgil's voice stung like a knife in Jeff's heart. "We are worried about you son."

"Don't call me son!" He snapped. He opened his eyes and studied the three men standing in front of him. "Listen, I don't know who you guys are. All I know is that Miguel brought you in to help us at the last minute. I have no idea where he found you. Now he is dead, Jorge is dead, I don't need you anymore. But thanks for the ride to the hospital. Now if you don't mind, I need my rest." Victor closed his eyes.


	26. You ARE Virgil, young man!

Victor doesn't know what time it was when the doctor entered the room. But he knew instantly that there was something wrong because instead of checking his chart or checking his pulse or checking whatever doctors check when they visit their patients, he just stood next to Victor. 

"Victor, I'm afraid I have bad news." The doctor paused. Then he said, "The woman you were brought in with yesterday, Teresa, has died. Her heart gave out. We couldn't bring her back. I am very sorry."

Tears glistened Victor's eyes. In a matter of weeks, his world has fallen apart twice. Almost inaudibly, he said, "Thanks, Doctor."

"Can I do anything for you?" the doctor asked.

Victor just shook his head no.

"Do you want to see your friends?"

At first Victor didn't know what the doctor was talking about, then he remembered those men who visited last night. If they were his friends, he didn't feel it. And just because they say it, doesn't mean they really are. He has no idea who they are and he didn't want to see them. He didn't trust them.

"No thanks, Doc."

"Well if you need anything, call the nurse. She'll page me if you need me." The doctor turned and left.

Victor laid there thinking. He had never felt so alone, so empty. He has gone from losing his life as he had known it for what…..27 years? 30 years? Hell, he didn't even know how old he was. He almost died, was nursed back to health by an attractive woman and her son who was very endearing. Gets attached to these two people, then gets attacked by a band of madmen, loses the only two people he knew and trusted, finds out he is supposed to be a member of an ultra secret organization and all within a couple of weeks. He felt like he was going insane. He just wanted to go home, but he didn't even have a home to go home to.

Well at least for the time being, he had a bed to sleep in and food to eat. He would be in the hospital for about a week or two. His knee surgery was scheduled for tomorrow. Right now, he would just try to rest and heal. After his knee surgery he would have to start considering his options. He wondered how he was going to handle the funeral arrangements for Teresa and Miguel from where he lay. He knew they had no other family. He rung the nurse, maybe she can get him started on a funeral home, and where he could get payment when the person being buried had none. 

A slightly heavy woman of African heritage came into the room when Victor pushed the button. 

"Nurse, can you help me get some information?" Victor asked.

"Sure, what is it you need?"

"There were two people I was brought in with that did not survive, I need to set up funeral arrangements and payments. Since I don't remember anything else, I'm afraid I have to start from the very beginning." 

"The arrangements have been taken care of. The woman and her son have been sent to the finest funeral parlor here."

Puzzled, Victor asked, "By whom? She doesn't have any other family here but me. In fact she doesn't have any other family. Period."

She answered matter-of-factly, "The head of International Rescue has foot the bill. We only know his first name, Jeff. He's a fine man, Virgil."

"My name is Victor." He said angrily.

"No, sir. You have been here enough for me to know who you are. You may not remember but I certainly do. You're name is Virgil and you are a member of International Rescue whether you like it or not. Now since you don't have a past, I would seriously think about talking to those people and trusting them a little. They do know more about you that you do right now." She said this with authority and a little bit of a huff. "Now is there anything else I can do for you, **_Virgil_**?"

He just shook his head no.

He felt like a little kid who got his hand slapped. Why has he been so distrusting of these men? Miguel did say they were friends. They do say they know him. And, duh! Teresa said that when Miguel brought him to her house, he was wearing that blue uniform. Well at least the trousers. Maybe after the surgery he will talk to them. He still wasn't ready right now though. 

A tall gentleman in his mid-50's came into Victor's room late in the afternoon. He was not wearing a lab-coat or scrubs or any doctor-like attire. He was dressed very casually. Neat, but casual. He was very thin with a beak-like nose, kind of homely actually. He had a bit of a nasal twang when he spoke. "Hi Victor, my name is Ken Homesworthy, Dr. Ken Homesworthy. I'm a psychiatrist."

"A shrink, huh? Did that guy, Jeff, put you up to this?" he asked with a bit of temper showing.

"No. This is standard procedure for people with amnesia."

"Oh." Victor said a bit embarrassingly.

The session lasted over two hours. By the time the shrink left, Victor's dinner which the nurses held onto while he was busy, was ice cold. 'There's nothing worse than cold instant mashed potatoes.' He thought, wishing he had one of Teresa's fahitas. He was a little bit mellower after that session. He realized that he had such anger towards Jeff and those others because of several things. One, was that he needed a channel for his anger at losing the only two people he knew. Another was that he was terrified of finding out who he was. Yes, he was hollow and empty inside, but at the same time, suppose he was a mass murderer belonging to a group whose rescue persona was just a façade? He never thought he would be afraid of finding out who he was. But it seems that it wasn't just fear, it was terror. The doctor also pointed out that this was very typical of patients with his severity of amnesia.

Now, how to approach these people who he has been quite coarse with lately. He can't do anything immediately. It was now almost past visiting hours and he had surgery scheduled the next morning. It will have to wait until after surgery.


	27. whose your daddy

Scott was worried about his father.  Jeff was so despondent.  To undergo the trauma of losing a son, then the shock of finding him alive, but then to only find out that it is just a shell of that son was taking a harsh toll on Jeff's normally stoic emotional base.  Virgil has rejected them the times that they wanted to see him.  They were very concerned when they found that Teresa had died and wanted so much to comfort Virgil and to let him know that his family was 100% behind him.  They had all gone through hell when he 'died', came back from hell when they found him alive, and now are returning to hell since he's not the Virgil they knew and loved.

Although the visiting hours were over, the Tracy men were still at the hospital.  Dr. Homesworthy stopped by the lounge where they were staying.

He looked to Jeff, "Are you Virgil's boss?"

Jeff nodded yes.

"Well, I cannot give you a lot of information due to doctor/patient confidentiality.  But I would like to let you know that I have reassured him on several aspects of what victims of amnesia go through.  If I were you, I would try approaching him again."

With that small bit of information Jeff's face brightened a bit, "Thanks Doc."

As the doctor walked away, he thought to himself, 'I would bet they are more than just coworkers."

Victor was trying hard to open his eyes, but they just didn't work.  He throat was sore and dry. As he tried to move, a gentle hand was placed on his shoulder, "Victor, relax, you came through surgery with flying colors.  Your knee should heal at 100% or close to it."  The nurse knowing what all surgical patients feel when just coming out of anesthesia continued, "Your throat is sore due to the tube that we placed down it.  When you wake up a little more, I will give you ice to suck on to help with the dryness.  And for a few more minutes your eyelids will feel like they have lead weights attached to them.  Nod if you understand."

Victor nodded yes. Then he heard, "He's coming out of it.  Ok to bring him back to his room."  Then he felt like he was floating around the room as the gurney was pushed out of recovery, into the hallway and eventually into the elevator. He woke up when the gurney came to a halt. He didn't remember falling back asleep, nor did he remember the elevator ride.  Then he heard, "Ok Mr. Victor, try to scoot over onto your bed as we support your leg."  He tried hard to pry his eyes open.  He squinted at the bright light and saw several people around him, preparing to move him from the gurney to the bed. "Ready?  On three, 1…2…3" and he slid across from one bed to the other.  He lifted his head and tried to keep his eyes open, but was not being successful.  His brain was waking up, but his eyes just didn't want to function yet.  All but one person left.  The nurse came over and asked, "Would you like a chip of ice to suck on?"

Victor nodded yes.  He accepted the spoon with the ice chip on it readily and was enjoying the cool wetness of it.  It took a minute before he realized that the spoon came from his left side and the nurse was still standing on his right. This time, his eyes opened a little bit easier and he saw the gray haired gentleman that everyone referred to as Jeff.

"Thanks" he croaked.

Jeff said, "We're here if you need anything.  Do you mind us staying?"

Victor just shook his head no.  His mouth was still too dry to talk much and he was still under too much influence of the anesthesia.  He fell asleep.

Jeff turned to the nurse and got the details of the surgery.  They had long ago given the hospital written permission to give anyone of International Rescue any and all medical information requested and to be able to give medical permission as well for any kind of emergency surgery where the patient couldn't respond for himself.  

Victor would sleep for several more hours. The nurse predicted that due to the anesthesia, his past physical traumas and his emotional problems with amnesia, that he would most probably sleep most of the day.  Jeff just said, "thank you."

He had sent the other boys home for a while.  They needed sleep, and to freshen up. They were after all in Cumaguay a lot longer than he was.  Also, they could give everyone else at home a rundown on the situation.  The others did not go to the hospital since the Tracy's were there as IR.  They begrudgingly accepted that and just waited for news about Virgil.

  Virgil woke late in the evening.  His dinner once again was cold. "Hmmmm," he thought to himself, "the only thing worse than cold mashed potatoes is cold sticky noodles and sauce."  He looked over to the chair by the window and saw Jeff with his chin on his chest.  Slow deep breaths indicated he was sleeping.  Victor felt uncomfortable around him.  He now understood why he was lashing out at this man and decided to be more civil.  But for some reason he just couldn't open up.  However seeing how he has no place to go when his leg heals, he decided to take the man up on his offer to bring him home to his house.  If this guy is his employer, then he should know about his family.  (Jeff, nor any of his brothers, indicated they were family because up to this point everyone around them had seen them as International Rescue.).  When Jeff wakes up, he has a plethora of questions that he wants to ask.

He played with his dinner for a while.  The cold glob just didn't hold any appeal.  He then looked down at his right knee.  It was lightly bandaged as the work was performed microscopically, but it still looked the size of a football. He tried to flex it a little and instantly regretted doing that.  "Ow!" he said softly.  But it was loud enough to wake up Jeff. 

"How are you feeling, son?" he asked.

"I wish you'd stop calling me that." Victor replied non-confrontationally. "Speaking of family, I assume that since I am in your employ you know my family? Don't I have any? If I do, why haven't they shown up by now, I've been in this hospital for 3 days. Is your organization so secret that my family doesn't even know? I could use with a few answers."  Victor was trying to sound polite and not angry.  He just wanted to start finding out some answers. Jeff got up and closed the door, which generally stays open unless the patient needs privacy.  He then pulled the chair up to right next to the bed so that Jeff could speak softly.

"Virg, uh…. Victor, no matter what you end up deciding to do with the rest of your life, what I am about to tell you now, stays between us.  If you can't make that solemn promise then I'm afraid I cannot answer many of your questions."

Victor thought about what Jeff just said.  He hesitated a moment then asked, "Is any of this illegal?"

Jeff shook his head no.

"Immoral?"

Jeff again shook his head no.

Victor looked down at his hands and noticed he was clenching the covers of his bed.

He looked back at Jeff, "If there is nothing illegal or wrong, why is International Rescue so secretive?"

Jeff could answer this without revealing too much. "We have incredible technology.  More advanced than any government.  If it ever got into the wrong hands……" he just trailed off and let Virgil's mind finish the sentence.

"Ok" Virgil said almost inaudibly. I promise to keep whatever I learn here today a secret."

Jeff took hold of Virgil's hand, "I'm your father." 


	28. His name is Victor

Victor sat there with his mouth open.  He slowly withdrew his hand from Jeff's grip.  He had a million questions all popping into his head at once and he didn't know where to start. Finally he settled on "What took you so long?"

Jeff not understanding what he meant just said, "Huh?"

"I was with Teresa for over a week.  Did you not know I went to Cumaguay? Why was I there, how did I get there? It sounds like the others were there when I got hurt.  Why didn't you look for me? You're International Rescue with all this fancy equipment.  But you couldn't find me?"  Victor started to ramble on, he couldn't stop the flow of questions. "If you had found me, then Teresa and Miguel would not have tried to tackle Jorge.  He would be mean to them, but they would still be alive." Victor was getting upset now as the stream of events started to fill out in his mind.

"Virgil, calm down, I can explain everything." Jeff tried to say quietly.

"Call me Victor!  I want to be known as Victor." he said harshly. "I'm not sure I can handle anymore information at the moment, please leave." And Victor turned away.

Jeff said softly, "I will be back tomorrow.  To let you know what really happened.  Hopefully you will be more receptive then."  He got up and left.

Victor watched Jeff leave the room.  He suddenly felt very angry without himself for the outburst.  Jeff was not supposed to be the punching bag for his emotions. Especially if what he said was true, that he was his father.  It seems the more he was finding out, the worse it was getting.  Maybe he will ask to speak to Dr. Homesworthy again.

Jeff sent for Scott to pick him up.  They couldn't use the private jets since they were International Rescue in the eyes of the hospital personnel.  He wished he could take the jet, but it would be too easy to trace the numbers back to Tracy Industries.  When Scott landed TB1 in the field, he got out and started walking towards the hospital.  But Jeff was already halfway to Scott.

"I want to see Virgil" Scott stated bluntly.

"No.  I broke the news to him that I'm his father and he didn't take it well.  Let it sink in.  This is all very traumatizing to him.  He has to take it slowly. I did not tell him that all of you are his brothers yet."  Jeff said solemnly. He could see Scott was ready to put up a fight, but to his surprise, Scott just looked down for a moment then went along with his father's wishes. 

It was a very somber homecoming for Jeff at the Tracy household.  No one really knew how to deal with their emotions. Should they celebrate that they found Virgil alive? Should they be upset that it is not Virgil but Victor occupying Virgil's body? 

Jeff's mother greeted her son. "Jeff, I think you should get some dinner then go straight to bed. You look terrible."

As he looked at his mother, he noticed that she did not look that terrific either. Her eyes were puffy from crying.

"I will, but I think we need to talk about this.  All of us, the events of the last few days.  Including going down to Cumaguay against my wishes." He said in a sterner voice than what he had previously been speaking.

Alan, ever on the defensive, yelled, "I said he was alive and I was right. Just because he has amnesia doesn't make him dead.  He will come out of it."

"Relax Alan. I am really not mad that you decided to search for your brother. I just wished you could have tried to convince me to go along with your harebrained idea." Jeff said.  Then he continued. "I told Virgil that I am his father and he didn't receive that very well. He still doesn't know you are all his brothers.  I am not sure how much to hit him with either.  I want to talk to Dr Homeworthy, but that would give away the fact that International Rescue is a family.  I'm not sure I am ready for that."

John, now without the head bandage, interrupted, "So does this mean International Rescue is not closed down for good?"

"Honestly, I hadn't given it much thought.  The secrecy is so ingrained that I automatically still worry about our identities.  What we have gone through the past several weeks has been devastating to our very souls. I am not sure about you, but I can ever go through that again." Jeff said slowly shaking his head.  

Scott added his thoughts. "I am not sure I can go through it again either, but I don't think now is a good time to discuss it.  Our emotions are raw, and we cannot think clearly while like this."

The other nodded their heads in agreement.

Alan asked, "So, do you think Virgil will come home to us?"

"I think so, he doesn't have anywhere else to go."  
  
"Except maybe back to Cumaguay." Gordon added.

Alan looked at his brother, "Do you really think he would go back there?  Especially since Teresa and Miguel are gone?"

Gordon shook his head no, "uh, uh.  I don't think so."

Jeff continued on, "Right now he still wants to be called Victor. And until he is ready, I think we should."

"Blech!" Alan said, "He sounds like a Russian weightlifter."

That comment got several chuckles all around.  

Grandma spoke for the first time, "Well, maybe if I fix his favorite foods, something will trickle into that thick brain of his."

"One thing I think we would need to do is after we reintroduce him to the layout of the house is to leave him be.  We can't moddycoddle him.  Yes, Mom, it would be ok to fix his favorite foods, but not every day.  We can't offer to do his laundry, keep him entertained or anything like that.  I don't think I am willing to show him the TB hangers yet, either.  In case the Virgil we know never returns.

Jeff looked around at his sons.  They all looked drawn and tired.  They have all lost a lot of weight.  It was then that he noticed just how thin John was.  He was always of slender build but between the mourning and the Cumaguay ordeal, he lost weight that he did not have to spare.  "John, will you please go eat something fattening."

John started at that request. He never really thought about his weight.  "Uh, ok.  If you want I can have a milkshake before I go to bed tonight. That should add about an ounce to my weight." He said with a smile. 

Jeff concluded the meeting. "I think it is time we all go to bed.  I will be heading back to the hospital tomorrow morning.  I want to be alone with Virgil again."  

Alan interrupted, "shouldn't we start practicing and call him Victor?"

"You're right. I will be visiting Victor tomorrow.  I am going to see how receptive he is to getting more news about his life before Cumaguay.  He will probably be in the hospital a few more days, he needs to do some physical therapy on his knee before they will discharge him.  I am thinking the doctors might let him go by Friday." 


	29. Music can sooth the savage soul

Because he still couldn't use his leg, Victor was strapped to the bed in the sickbay of TB1 for the ride 'home'. Home, that sounded like it was supposed to be a good thing, a wonderful thing, but he was scared to death. This was his supposed family he was going home to. Jeff had returned the next morning to visit him. Victor had decided to be more civil to this man who was calling him father. He could after all really be his father. He wondered where his mother was during all this. Jeff didn't say. But he held a poker face when Jeff told him that the 4 men dressed in black were all his brothers. Inside he could feel fear, anger, hope, depression, elation and a whole mess of emotions swirling around. He tried his best to keep them all in check and ended up showing no emotion at all.

Jeff, at the last minute decided that he would pilot TB1 to pick up Virgil. Scott protested, but Jeff reminded him that to date, the only person Virgil was talking to was Jeff. Besides, he couldn't tell what kind of reaction Virgil had to the news that all four men in the uniforms were his brothers. He told Scott afterwards that he remained completely emotionless. He was hoping that it was due to overload. He also felt that Virgil would be more comfortable being alone in the sickbay instead of surround by 'strangers'. 

He was lost in his own thoughts as he headed back to Tracy Island. He kept trying to think of what Virgil must be feeling about now. He knows that his grief must be unbearable, he knew that from his own experience. But he couldn't fathom what he must be feeling being completely dependent on a bunch of strangers. He didn't have any baseline for his thoughts, for his life, no idea of home, nothing but emptiness. A vast void in his mind. 

Although he wasn't being forceful about it, he still wanted to be referred to as Victor. Jeff had passed this along to everyone on Tracy Island. It was going to be difficult to remember when they had been referring to him for close to 30 years as one name and now suddenly have to switch to another. Jeff also told the boys to not overload him with memories. He needs to do it at his own pace.

One thing he did notice, Virgil did not seem awed by TB1, as if he had always been in a ship like this. He was hoping that was a good sign. 

As Jeff approached the island, he called for permission to land. Scott was manning the com. Everyone was trying hard to act natural, but they didn't know exactly what that was and ended up looking like a bunch of lost kids wandering aimlessly around the house. Or as Captain Kirk said in that classic old Star Trek movie Voyage Home, "Like a bunch of cadets on a parade ground."

"Remember, we will both be coming in through the guest entrance." Jeff told Scott. Then as an afterthought, "Tell Gordon and Alan to go for a swim. I don't want them gawking at Virgil."

"Sure thing, dad."

The guest door to the lounge opened up and a thin young man gingerly entered using a pair of crutches. He looked around obviously uncomfortable. Jeff followed right behind him closing the secret passage. Scott was seated behind Jeff's desk. He got up and held out his hand to Virgil. "Hi Victor. Welcome" as if he were a guest. Victor shook his hand, and the puzzled look on his face told Scott that he needed to introduce himself. He felt awkward telling the brother he was closest to his name. "My name is Scott."

"Hi, Scott."

Grandma was the next to come into the room. She clasped her hands together, "VIRGIL! It is so good to see you home!" 

He had an odd look to his face, as he really didn't know how to respond to this older woman calling him Virgil. He knows that is what his name is supposed to be, but he is still not comfortable with it.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I heard you prefer Victor. Well you can call me Grandma, you always have."

Victor looked to Jeff feeling uncomfortable. Jeff understanding said, "She's my mother, your grandmother. If you are not comfortable calling her Grandma, you can call her Mrs. Tracy."

"Thanks" he said quietly. "Hello Mrs. Tracy." Then turning to Jeff, "Can I go to my room now?"

Jeff nodded, "Scott? Show him around for the basics. Kitchen, den, doors to the outside, his room, clothes and bath."

"C'mon, Victor, I'll give you the quick tour."

Jeff's mother looked on as they left. "He is so thin, his clothes just hang on him."

He knew that the comment was superficial, and that his mother couldn't bring herself to comment on the fact that she was Mrs. Tracy to her grandson.

The first meal was awkward. Grandma and Kirano both collaborated to try and fix a meal that Virgil would always remember. They knew he loved the sauerbraten from a little German restaurant in the village of Braun. Kyrano used his 'influence' to get their recipe and they have had a roast marinating for 5 days in preparation for his homecoming. They had all the German fixings that go with it. There were oooo's and ahhhhh's from all around, but Virgil just picked at his food and pushed it around his plate.

Virgil looked to Jeff, "May I be excused?"

Jeff wanted so badly to say, 'but this is one of your favorite meals, we still have a decadent chocolate cake with 7 minute frosting for dessert. Don't you remember?' He wanted to scream it to Virgil. But instead he just nodded yes and Victor hobbled back to his room.

He stood on the balcony of his room overlooking this pacific paradise. If everything were true, that this was his home and these people were his family, he should be embracing it, elated beyond belief. So why was he so depressed? Why did he not feel comfortable with these people? They obviously are very caring. Why was he so fearful? He decided that he should probably see more of Dr. Homesworthy. If he couldn't help bring back his memory, maybe at least he could help him feel more comfortable with his new life.

As the sun started to set and the brilliant hues ran from pale yellow to deep purple, his mind wandered to Teresa. His heart ached. The memories were shattered by a knock on the door. "It's open" he called over his shoulders.

Scott entered and walked out onto the balcony next to his brother. "Just wondering if everything's alright" he began.

Victor looked at Scott a bit annoyed. "No, everything is not alright. I have no idea where I am, who you are, who any of you are. I lost the two people I had become attached too, and I don't feel like I belong here."

Scott stuttered, "I, uh, I didn't mean…."

Victor said, "It's ok. I'm sorry I snapped at you. It's just that……" and he left the sentence unfinished.

"It's just what?" asked Scott.

"It's just that I have nothing to help relieve all this stress. When you are under stress, do you think of the terrific date you had last night, or maybe the vacation you're gonna start tomorrow, or do you get excited about planning an adventure? Do you dive into a favorite hobby? When you're tired, do you think 'I can't wait to get home to a hot shower and my own bed?' I don't have that. None of that and it's driving me nuts."

"You have us! This is your home. That is your baby grand piano in the lounge. You do have hobbies that you look forward to. That is _your_ bed!" Scott said getting exasperated.

"You don't get it. It doesn't feel like my bed, my house, my ….piano?" He thought for a moment, then continued on. "I don't remember this stuff being mine."

Scott caught Virgil's reaction to the piano. "Would you like to go to the piano?"

Victor looked out at the darkening skies, the last of the violet hues disappearing. "Would anybody mind?"

"Mind? HA! You playing is the highlight of some of our days. You are a superb player." Scott started to feel a little excitement at the idea that maybe his music might bring him around.

Scott and Victor sat down at the piano. Victor placed a finger on the keys and pushed on 'A' sending out a clear crisp note.

He placed all of his fingers on different keys…………….


	30. the first rescue since

Silence. 

Victor's hands sat poised over the ivories, but nothing happened. 

"I can't think of anything to play. I don't know where to start." He said sadly. 

"Start anywhere." Scott encouraged.

Victor sat there concentrating, hands ready to play a note, any note. After what seemed an eternity, he put his hands down, and shook his head. He got up and left.

Scott sat at the piano frustrated. Then in one swift movement pounded the keys with all his might. Virgil would have killed him for doing that. He looked up………just in case. But Virgil didn't return.

Victor lay on his bed hands locked behind his head. His eyes just wandered around this suite that supposedly was his. When his eyes came upon the massive bookshelf, he realized that more than half of those books were either about art or music. Then for the first time, he noticed the easel in the corner of the room, splattered with spots of different colors. Does he paint too? He then started to take note of all the artwork on the walls. A scribbled signature that looked very much like the name Virgil T. was on the corner of most of those pieces. He noticed that some were oils, some watercolors and others pastels. He was fascinated that these objects were made by him, well at least according to what the people living here say.

He got out of bed and went to the bookshelf to study the volumes more closely. A large number of the books not art or music related were technology based books, books on flight, navigation, high tech rescue techniques, or other textbooks. When he looked at the diplomas on the wall, he realized that he was a highly educated person. Then suddenly it hit him, and he looked around. Nothing on the desk, nor the nightstand, or even the dresser. There was not a single photograph in the room. He did see the individual portraits on the wall in the lounge, but there was nothing in here showing him with his brothers, or father, or mother. He did find out that she died long ago, but still, won't he have had a photo of her in here? He decided to search out Jeff and ask.

Jeff was in his usual spot behind the desk. Since International Rescue had not been active for several weeks, the workload was immense. During the week between finding Virgil and bringing him home the family had extensive discussions regarding what to do with IR. The problem was that they all unanimously agreed that they wanted to keep IR active, but at the same time they also unanimously agreed that they could not ever go through the kind of grief again. And therein lies the problem. There is no way to keep International Rescue active and not risk any of their lives. They already had more safety devices in place than any other rescue organization. Due to the genius of Brains, their jobs were as safe as possible. And Brains kept coming up with greater and better safety items. But it still does not mean that something cannot happen. 

The day before Virgil was brought home, a decision was finally made, to restart IR. The thought was simple. If they closed up shop and became totally isolated, they could still die tomorrow of a tsunami, earthquake, disease, or simply tripping while going down the stairs. At least, by performing a rescue, maybe another life could be saved.

Alan was going to be the first back up in TB5 and he would leave tomorrow. John still suffered from a periodic headache or attack of vertigo. Although occurring in episodes fewer and farther between, it was still one too many if he had one.

"Jeff?" Victor called as he entered the almost deserted lounge.

Jeff looked up, he was not accustomed to being called by his first name by his sons, but he tried not to let that show.

"Yes, Victor?"

He hobbled to the closest chair and plopped down, crutches not being the most comfortable things to hang onto for any length of time. "I didn't notice any photographs in my room and I was curious about it. Didn't Virgil have any?"

Jeff was taken aback at the way the sentence was phrased, Virgil talked about himself as a totally separate person in the past and in the third person.

"Well actually Victor, Dr. Homeworthy told us to try to keep the flood of memories down a bit. He suggested that we put away the photographs for a little while. Maybe bring them out after a few days once you settle in."

"Oh." Was all that Victor said. He got up to leave then turned to ask, "Is it ok if I sit by the pool for a while?"

"Oh sure, go right ahead. But don't be surprised if you run into Gordon down there, he often does laps at night, helps loosen the tight muscles in his back." Jeff replied slightly surprised at the request. It was going to take some getting used to the fact that Victor thought of himself as a guest and not a family member.

Victor turned and left, heading towards the pool. 

The pool was currently empty when he got there. He kept the pool and patio lights off, he was enjoying the darkness. It reminded him of Teresa's home. With no electricity, the only light came from candles, lanterns and the fireplace. He laid down on one of the chaises and stared up at the sky. The stars were thick out here in the middle of the ocean with little ambient light to hide them. 

He awoke brusquely to the sound of rockets roaring and opened his eyes to the view of TB1 exiting from…..the pool?! He sat awed at the sight of this sleek silver bullet streaking skyward. The sun was bright and he estimated it was about 9 AM. He had ended up falling asleep out here. As he felt the hot air from her jets he wondered if they frequently blast off with someone in such close proximity. He thought it a bit dangerous. But then he realized that they might not have known he was out there. When he got over the shock of such an abrupt awakening, he gathered his crutches and went back inside. He entered the lounge just as he saw a piece of the wall flipping back down. He looked curiously at the 'hidden' doorway. Jeff was seated at his desk and was talking to someone via com. "Gordon, you're clear for takeoff. Once TB2 is airborne give Scott your ETA."

"FAB dad."

Another voice came over the com, "M-mr. T-tracy, I have several v-variations of the d-design that you wanted. When you have a m-moment, could you c-come down to the lab and p-pick out the one that you like b-best?"

"Brains, I have a few minutes now. The boys will be in flight over an hour, so I shouldn't get an update for a while. I'm on my way." Then turning to Victor, "You'll be ok by yourself up here?"

He nodded yes and Jeff left. He sat there just taking in the details of the room. He had been there before, at the piano and when he first entered, but he really didn't look at it. He studied the portraits, particularly himself, in the blue uniform and yellow sash. Teresa had shown him a pair of blue pants and blue boots with a yellow border. She said he was wearing them at the time he was found. It still didn't look familiar. His eyes rested on a gorgeous, aristocratic lady, but as with everything else, did not know her. He wondered if she was family. And if she was, who was she. He didn't think the blond was his mother. Jeff had said that he looked exactly like his mother, so she would have had chestnut brown hair and light brown eyes. This lady had blue eyes and blond hair. She had a royal air about her too. That will just be another thing he will ask Jeff sometime. As he continued to scan the room, his eyes rested on the part of the wall that he saw flipping back down earlier. He decided to investigate it. He stopped a few feet away and looked for any signs of a door or handle and didn't see anything. He got closer and started to feel around the wall. Suddenly the wall flipped him up and into the other side of the wall. He dropped his crutches as he tried to grasp something anything to keep from flipping through the wall. He found himself gliding on a slide face down. He then was turned around and continued the slide feet first but still face down. In the moment that this was happening he got a glimpse of a cavernous room and that he was probably about 100 feet off the ground. He used his hands to try to slow down but not until the lower half of his body cleared the end of the slide.

He found himself holding on to the edge of the slide with his hands just swinging back and forth. He peered down, 'JESUS!!' he thought, 'I'll never survive the fall.'

"**HELP**!" he yelled with all his might. "**HEEELLLLPPPP!**"

Using only arm strength, he pulled himself up using every bit of strength he had left. But the slide was slippery and angled, he slid back off as soon as he rested his upper body on it.

Jeff re-entered the lounge expecting an update from his sons on the first rescue since the return of Virgil. He noticed that he was no longer there. He shrugged it off thinking he either went back to his room, or to the kitchen for a bite to eat since he missed breakfast, or maybe to the gym to work on his physical therapy. He went straight over to his desk, "Base to Thunderbird 1" 

"Go ahead dad." Scott answered informally.

"What's your ETA?"

There was a hesitation, then Scott got back on the line. "Dad, let me call Thunderbird 2 before I continue." Jeff waited impatiently, wondering why there was the hesitation then Scott needing to bring in TB2 just for an ETA. "Dad, Gordon, I just received a call from that Jonas guy, who called in the original rescue. They got them men out safely, they don't need us after all. We can return to base."

"FAB Scott, I guess that will make it about 30 minutes then. Base out." Jeff said.


	31. a whisper unheard

Jeff cut communications then looked up from his desk. It was then that he noticed both crutches on either side of the secret door to TB2. Jeff sat there puzzled looking at them, then suddenly leaped out of his chair, sending it flying into the wall. He headed to the guest door, knowing that the pilot door was a one way slide. When the door opened, he froze at the sight of Virgil dangling at the end of the slide where he normally would have entered TB2. Forgetting all about the Virgil/Victor names, he called out, "HANG ON, VIRGIL!!" He looked around him, panic starting to rise. What was the quickest way to close over 100 feet of distance between Virgil and the hard cement floor? He slammed the intercom next to him, "BRAINS, TB2 HANGER NOW!!" He was still looking feverishly around when he heard Virgil say, "I can't hold on much longer, hurry!" He looked down at the podless canyon and realized that the pods themselves can cut more than half that distance. 

Jeff punched the button that moves the conveyor belt with the pods, not caring which direction it moved. He just wanted a pod underneath Virgil should he fall, he would have a better chance of survival if the distance was shortened.

Brains was out of breath when he ran into the hanger from below. He looked around and only saw the pods moving, but no humans. 

"Brains, up here!" he heard Jeff yell. Brains looked up and horrified saw Virgil dangling from the slide. Pod 3 was now directly underneath him. The fall was still too much to handle especially if he was going to land on his newly restored knee. Brains stared at the pod, then at Virgil, then the pod. A ladder won't work because there is no place to rest the upper end of the ladder. What about some of their equipment that can extend to incredibly long lengths. Two machines that came to mind were in pod 6, which………….was the one in use. 

"I g-got it Mr. Tracy. Hold on V-Virgil just another m-minute. P-Please hold on!" he called. He then raced into pod 2 and pulled out a large folded soft plastic object. He then ran to the side of the hanger and retrieved the ladder frequently used to get up on the pods for maintenance. "H-hold on V-Virgil!' he yelled again. Manhandling the ladder, he positioned it against pod 5 and quickly climbed it. When he reached the top he threw the large soft piece of folded plastic directly underneath Virgil, holding the piece of rope that was attached to it. When it landed, he yanked hard on the rope and the plastic started to inflate rapidly. 

'The rescue mattress!' Jeff thought. Brains got the idea for this from watching Hollywood stuntmen do high falls, except this was modified slightly to fit IR needs. "Good thinking Brains!" Jeff yelled down.

The mattress was about ¾ inflated when Virgil gave out with a yell and started free falling towards the ground. He hit the air mattress flat on his back. But due to the curvature the pods and the force of the hit, both mattress and man slid off the far side of the pod with Brains helplessly looking on grabbing empty air. Brains slid down the ladder at reckless speed. Jeff headed straight to the elevator.

As Jeff approached the far side of the pod he found Brains kneeling beside an unconscious Virgil. "My God," Jeff said, "Will this roller coaster ride with Virgil ever end!" He turned and left, quickly returning with the antigravitational gurney. "Brains, how is he?"

"There's n-nothing broken. B-but I think he hit his head p-pretty hard. I c-can't tell if h-he re-injured h-his knee because it was s-still swollen from the s-surgery. I c-can tell b-better once we get him t-to the sick room."

Scott and Gordon returned at the same time since TB2 was closer to base than TB1 when they turned around. Scott was worried when he didn't get the clearance to land. There was no answer from base. He quickly scanned the area for aircraft, and satisfied that it was clear enough, opened the pool remotely. TB2 was landing on the runway as per normal. However when Gordon went to taxi into the hanger, there was a pod in the way. He radioed Scott to tell him of the odd occurrence especially since there was no answer from their dad upon the hale.

Scott was the first inside. Since Gordon had to get out of TB2 and leave her on the runway he ran up the outside steps. He took them 2 and 3 at a time. He met Scott in the lounge. There was nothing out of the ordinary, except…..Virgil's crutches.   
"What are they doing there?" Gordon asked.

Scott just shrugged and called out. "Dad?" 

He went to the intercom, "Dad, are you in the house anywhere?"

The return call worried both Scott and Gordon. "We are in the sick room."

Both brothers hurried down to the sickroom, feeling sick themselves and not knowing whom it was that needed care. They broke into the room like two bulls in a china shop.   
"What happened?!" they asked in unison.

"From what I could tell, Virgil went to explore the hidden entrance to TB2. I don't know if he saw something or remembered something. But one thing he didn't remember, that the slide is still there even when TB2 is gone. He must have been facing the wall, when it flipped him inside. I found him hanging on for life at the end of the slide."

Jeff conveyed the entire home rescue to the boys.

Scott and Gordon looked at their brother. Looking up, Gordon said, "He doesn't look like he fell and hit the floor. What did you guys do?"

As Jeff continued with the details, Virgil started to stir. He wasn't waking up quietly, he was fighting as if he was having a nightmare. Beads of sweat breaking out on his forehead.

"Take it easy, Virgil." Scott said quietly. Jeff looked down at his unconscious son as he spoke to Scott, "I don't know what this has done to his memory, so use his other name as well. He could respond to either Virgil or Victor."

When Virgil started thrashing violently Brains told Jeff, "I t-think I had b-better sedate him. He m-may hurt h-himself in this st-state of agitation."

"Can you sedate someone who is unconscious?" Gordon asked.

"W-well it isn't the typical m-medication. It is m-meant more for p-people like Virgil. It is closer to b-being a muscle relaxant, s-seems to have a c-calming effect."

Jeff nodded his approval and Brains gave him an IM injection. Virgil slowly relaxed. "U-unfortunately Mr.Tracy, this c-could mean that h-he will be out f-for several more hours."

"Thanks, Brains." Then turning to Gordon, "Will you tell your grandmother that I will be dining down here tonight."

When Scott walked into the sickroom at 2:00 AM, he found his father slumped over, snoring lightly. He thought 'Oh, boy, dad is going to have a terribly stiff neck when he wakes up.' He walked over to his father and gently shook his shoulder. "Ow," came the reply as Jeff started to rub the back of his neck. "I don't think I will ever be able to straighten out again." Then looking at Scott, "What are you doing here?"

"I want to take over watch for you. Go stretch out on your own bed, straighten out those crooked kinks." Scott helped his father to the door. 

Before Jeff left he asked, "Want me to make a cup of coffee for you?"

Scott thought a moment, "You know that sounds good, but why don't you go to bed, I can get the coffee. Virgil won't be alone for more than a minute."

"OK, 'nite, son"

"My name is Virgil!" could be heard coming from the sickroom. But no one was there to hear it.


	32. My name is Virgil

Scott returned with a huge mug of black coffee. He sat down preparing for a long vigil. He looked at his brother and noticed that once again he had broken out in a sheen of sweat. But unlike earlier, he was quiet. Nothing looked disturbed. 

Jeff showed up at 8 am. "Scott" he whispered. 

Scott, who had stayed awake those several long hours, willed his weighted eyes to look up at his father. 

Jeff asked, "Any new development?"

Scott just shook his head no.

"Come, let's get some quick breakfast." 

"What about Victor, here?"

Jeff was rebuked by the sound of Victor's name. But then he remembered telling Scott that Virgil may remember one name but not the other. He just shook his head, he doesn't think he will ever get used to that name.

"Victor has been out for this long, I don't think we will miss anything for 10 minutes. Grandma has breakfast all ready. In fact, pick what you want, and bring it back down here if you'd like." Jeff offered.

"Thanks, I think I will do that." Scott took one last look at his younger brother and left with his father to get some breakfast and to refill his mug.

Minutes later.

"My name is Virgil" wafted out of the sickroom. But no one heard it.

Scott was helping himself to a couple of soft-boiled eggs, Canadian bacon, and hash browns. He was in the process of balancing the utensils, plate of food and coffee mug for his trip back to sickbay when he heard, "My name is Virgil."

The others were out in the dinning room and could not hear anything but the sound of crashing kitchen items. The plate of food, utensils and coffee shattered on the ground as Scott turned around and saw Virgil standing in the doorway to the kitchen supported by his crutches.

"Scott?" Jeff called concerned, "Everything alright?"

He stood up instantly when he didn't receive an answer.

The other Tracy brothers also were on their feet a moment later. 

Jeff bounded into the kitchen and stopped cold. "Victor! You're awake, how are you feeling? Are you ok, you took a nasty fall yesterday."

Virgil stood there quietly. Before Scott could say anything, the young man spoke again. "My name is Virgil."

Grandma who had just reached the doorway heard that. She let out a cry and clasped her hands together. Gordon rushed to her side as she swooned. He ushered her to the nearest kitchen chair, then looked back up at his brother.

"SON! Do you remember everything?" Jeff exclaimed.

Virgil just shook his head no. "Not everything. I remember my name. And I remember you, father. Everything else is still a fuzzy wad of cotton in my brain."

Scott, sounding disappointed, said, "You don't remember me?"

Virgil looked at him, a little bleary-eyed. "Actually I do. I remember you owe me some payback time for taking Tracy Industry office duty for you." He said with a wry smile.

Jeff, elation showing on his face, "Virgil, let's get you back to sickbay. You need to rest. Hopefully now your memory will start to return in leaps and bounds."

As he was settling back into bed, Virgil asked his father, "How long ago was Cumaquay, when I disappeared?"

"It's going on four weeks now, **son**." Jeff said then waited. When he didn't hear the backlash that he had been receiving for the several weeks, he said, "It felt good to call you that."

Virgil nodded, slowly succumbing to sleep. But before he did, he asked, "What happened while I was gone?"

Gordon spoke up on this one, "We were having a Funeral for a Brother."


End file.
